New Federal Reserve Report Shows Financial Impact of College Education

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday released its annual Economic Wellbeing of U.S. Households Report, illustrating the positive impact a college education has on graduates’ finances. The report found:

• 87% of bachelor’s degree recipients report financial wellbeing, compared with 64% among those whose highest degree is a high school diploma. | Figure 2 in SHED Report on page 6

• Emergency savings: 74% of bachelor’s degree recipients have at least three months’ worth of emergency savings, compared to just 41% for workers whose highest degree is a high school diploma. | Fed SHED supplemental graphic

• Greater workplace autonomy: “Employees with a bachelor’s degree or more were more likely to choose what tasks they work on as well as how to complete those tasks than were workers with less education.” | Table 8 on page 22

• More flexible work arrangements: “People who completed more education continued to be more likely to work from home. Twenty-six percent of workers with at least a bachelor’s degree worked entirely from home compared with 9% of those with a high school degree or less | Page 21 in SHED Report

APLU maintains a checklist of key figures on cost, student debt, and ROI to help members tell their story as well as much more detailed pages on these individual topics.