As the price of a college degree continues to rise, there's growing evidence that the monetary payoff isn't quite as big as often advertised. The best estimate now is that a college degree is worth about 300,000 in today's dollars--nowhere near the million figure that is often quoted.

"That million number has driven me crazy!" says Sandy Baum, a Skidmore economist who studied the value of a college degree for the College Board last year.

Baum's research showed that college graduates earn, on average, about 20,000 a year more than those who finished their educations at high school. Add that up over a 40-year working life and the total differential is about 800,000, she figures. But since much of that bonus is earned many years from now, subtracting out the impact of inflation means that 800,000 in future dollars is worth only about 450,000 in today's dollars.

Then, if you subtract out the cost of a college degree--about ,000 in tuition and books for students who get no aid and attend public in-state universities--and the money a student could have earned at a job instead of attending school, the real net value in today's dollars is somewhere in the 300,000 range, a number confirmed by other studies.

But, especially these days, that still makes a college degree one of the most lucrative investments a person can make, Baum notes.

Better yet, college graduates can go on to earn advanced degrees, which return even bigger payoffs. The average holder of a bachelor's degree earns about 51,000 a year, Baum calculates. But those who've gone on to earn MBAs, law degrees, or other professional degrees earn about 100,000 a year.

In addition, Baum found that there are plenty of other rewards for a degree. The quality of the jobs college graduates get is far better, for example. College graduates are more likely to get jobs with health insurance. And it is easier for them to find and hold jobs. The unemployment rate for college graduates was just 2.2 percent last year, half the unemployment level of those with only high school diplomas.

There are lots of other nonmonetary benefits as well. College graduates are healthier, contribute more to their communities, and raise kids who are better prepared academically, studies show.

Other researchers have found that the payoff of a degree is especially lucrative for students from low-income families, since the education and credential give them a chance to break out of low-paying careers.

大學文憑價格持續攀升，而其貨幣回報卻未如廣告所宣傳的那樣美好。以現如今的美元估計，大學文憑最準確的價值大約是30萬美元，遠達不到人們常說的百萬美元。

“百萬美元這個說法快讓我發瘋了！”Sandy Baum 說。她是一位Skidmore 經濟學家，去年，她研究了大學理事會成員心中的大學文憑的價值。

Baum的研究顯示大學畢業生平均年薪大約比剛畢業的高中生高2萬美元。她指出，如果是加上40年的工齡，總的工資級差大約是80萬美元。但是因為大多數的紅利都是很多年之后的事，再除去通貨膨脹的影 響，也就是說將來的80萬美元在現在大約只值45萬美元。

然后，如果減掉大學文憑的費用－－如果是在州立大學讀書，并且沒拿獎學金，學費和書本費支出大概是，000美元，并且還要除去一個學生不上大學這段時間所能掙的錢，以現在的美元看，大學文憑凈值約30萬美元。這個數字也為其它的研究所證實。

Baum提到，大學教育，尤其是在現在，仍然是一個人所能做的最有利的投資。

更好的是，大學畢業后還能再讀個高級學位，得到的薪水回報將更大。據Baum的計算，一個學士平均年薪大約5萬1千美元，而一個MBA，法律碩士或是其它職業學位的畢業生可以拿到將近10萬美元的年薪。

 另外，Baum發現文憑還能帶來很多其他回報。大學畢業生所獲得的工作要好很多。舉個例子，大學畢業生更容易取得有社會保險的職位，更容易找到工作并保住工作。去年大學畢業失的失業率大約是2.2％， 而這個數字只是那些高中文憑畢業生的失業率的一半。

此外，文憑還有很多非金錢的回報。眾多研究表明，大學畢業生更健康，更加關注自己所在的社區，他們的子女也有更好的受教育的機會。

其它研究人員也發現學歷所帶來的回報對那些來自低收入家庭的學生尤其具有誘惑力，因為教育和文憑給了他們擺脫低收入職位的機會。