All Kentuckians Gain from Higher Education, Study Shows

FRANKFORT, KY (June 27, 2001) — Most know that education pays but a study released today by the Kentucky Long-Term Policy Research Center calculates the value of some of the lesser known benefits of having a more educated populace. Education and the Common Good: Social Benefits of Higher Education in Kentucky identifies some of the many returns to the state from its investment in higher education, from healthier citizens to increased voluntarism, both of which are associated with higher levels of education, and estimates the value of some.

In view of the substantial commitment being made to raising the level of education in the Commonwealth, the report responds to the ultimate question, “How does the average citizen benefit from investment in higher education?” Authored by economist Amy L. Watts, a policy analyst with the Center, the illustrative cost-benefit analysis estimates the value of some of the benefits realized when an individual’s education level increases from a high school diploma to a bachelor’s degree or higher.

The report identifies a select few of the social benefits that accompany earning a degree from a four-year college and quantifies the value of many of them. One of the primary benefits of a more educated populace, the report concludes, comes in the form of costs it does not incur. Specifically, more educated citizens do not often rely on welfare and food stamps, commit crimes at the same rate as those with less education, or smoke as much.

What educated citizens do is equally important, the report concludes. For example, the higher income taxes paid by more educated Kentuckians benefit the state and, by extension, all of its citizens. An individual with a bachelor’s degree, the report shows, will contribute almost $23,000 more to state coffers over the course of a lifetime than one with only a high-school diploma. The federal government will receive more than three times that amount. Among the many other societal gains are those which fall into the intangible realm of civil society, which includes such contributions as voluntarism, charitable giving, and participating in and leading community organizations. The report estimates the value of some of these contributions and compares it to the costs the state incurs for higher education.

As the report notes, other positive outcomes are clearly associated with completing college; however, many are extremely difficult to value. These include the likelihood that more educated parents read more frequently to young children, an activity which research suggests pays significant intergenerational dividends; the increased access to and use of computers and the Internet found among more educated citizens, both of which enable a host of economic and social gains; and the tendency to participate more in cultural activities, again, an enrichment of the life experience that cannot be valued in dollars and cents.