????對此，專家們會說，雖然攻讀學位的費用不斷增加，但是就讀大學依然有所回報。

????有統計資料證明了這一觀點。與只有高中學歷的工人相比，大學畢業生一生平均多收入100萬美元，最終使高達六位數的前期投資得以回報。但是，中途退學或大學畢業時債臺高筑、無法使學位投資有所回報的學生案例比比旨是。

????我們如何使統計資料和具體案例保持一致呢？紐約聯邦儲備銀行（Federal Reserve Bank of New York）提供的圖表說明，如果我們只著眼于平均情況，就會錯失很多信息：

????與普通的高中畢業生相比，底層四分之一擁有大學學歷的工薪階層所得薪酬大體相當，而且40年來這種情況沒有發生真正的改變。事實上，這個圖表說明，或許由于高薪藍領工作（如制造業工作）的消失，大學學位對底層四分之一的工薪階層來說更加重要。當然，過去40年來攻讀學位的費用增長了12倍，而把通貨膨脹因素考慮在內后，大學畢業生的薪酬并沒有出現增加。

????If you listen to the experts, they’ll tell you that, despite the rising cost of a degree, college still pays off.

????And the statistics bear this argument out. A college graduate will on average make $1 million more than a worker with just a high school degree over the course of his lifetime, making even a six-figure upfront investment well worth it in the end. Yetanecdotal evidence abounds of students who either flunked out of college or graduated with large debt loads and are still unable to land jobs that will make the investment in a degree pay off.

????How do we reconcile the statistics with these stories? This chart from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York shows that we can miss a lot when looking at just the average experience:

???The bottom quarter of earners with a college degree don’t make more money than the average high school graduate. And this hasn’t really changed much in 40 years. In fact, this graphic shows that a college degree has become more valuable even for the bottom quarter of earners, likely as a result of the evaporation of high-paying blue collar jobs, like those in the manufacturing industries. Of course, over the past 40 years, the cost of a degreehas increased 12-fold, while a degree holder isn’t making more money at all, when accounting for inflation.