Great Graphic: Value of College Degree

This Great Graphic comes from The Atlantic.  It provides evidence in the ongoing argument over the market value of a college degree.   In the US, expenditures on higher education are considered consumption.  However, a more compelling case can be made that such expenditures are an investment and that such an investment is associated with a higher income stream.  The US spends a higher share of its GDP on higher education that other countries and if these expenditures were "properly" accounted for, US internal imbalances would not appear as extreme is by conventional optics.  

Of course, this says nothing about how a college tuition is paid for (the growing problem of student loans) or that college tuition continues to rise faster than inflation (when will that bubble pop?).

There is also a non-market value of college education.  It has to do with understanding, as in understanding one's society and history, its literature and it understanding of itself.  One also has an opportunity to learn about other societies, their history and culture.  One can learn the latest understanding of the natural world.  But it is not just content, it is also learning how to think critically and how to express one's self in writing and speech.

One of the transformations of education is that in high income areas and countries, it is becoming a life long process.  Adult education, which does not necessarily lead to a degree, but allows one to formally explore interests, appears to be a growth industry.