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Home > Policy & Advocacy > The Value and Benefit of Public Universities > Key Figures on Cost, Student Debt, & ROI at Public Universities

Key Figures on Cost, Student Debt, & ROI at Public Universities

Public universities provide the most affordable and reliable path to the middle class and beyond, providing far-reaching benefits to their students, communities, and society at large.

Tuition & Fees

Public universities provide the most affordable path to a life-changing college education.

  • Published in-state tuition and fees at public four-year universities are $11,260, down $410 from a decade ago in inflation-adjusted terms. 1
  • Tuition for in-state students after grant aid is $2,730, down 34% from a decade ago.2

Student Debt

Public universities help students earn a bachelor’s degree with limited student debt.

  • 50% of students at public four-year universities earned their bachelor’s degree with zero student debt in 2021-22 (latest year available).  The share of bachelor’s recipients graduating with debt is down 8 percentage points from a decade ago.3
  • Average debt among those who borrow is $27,400, down $3,800 in inflation-adjusted terms from a decade ago.4

Employment, Earnings, & ROI

The typical college graduate sees an immediate and immense economic benefit from their degree – and the economic advantage compounds over their lifetime.

  • College graduates are half as likely to be unemployed as workers whose highest degree is a high school diploma.5
  • Median annual earnings for recent bachelor’s degree earners – those aged 22-27 – are $24,000, or 67%, higher than peers whose highest degree is a high school diploma.6
  • Median annual earnings among workers aged 25 and older with a bachelor’s degree are $27,621 or 74% higher than peers whose highest degree is a high school diploma.7
  • Median lifetime earnings are $1.2 million higher for bachelor’s degree holders than peers whose highest degree is a high school diploma.8
  • Just four years after earning a bachelor’s degree, Pell Grant recipients’ earnings already exceed those of the family household in which they grew up.9

Financial Wellbeing

The increased employment and earnings a college degree allows in turn increases graduates’ financial wellbeing.

  • Median household net worth, financial assets minus total debts (including educational debt), is more than 4 times higher among families with a college degree compared with those with just a high school diploma. 10
  • The homeownership rate for those with a college degree is 74%, compared with 62% for those whose highest degree is a high school diploma. 11
  • In 2000, households headed by individuals aged 25-34 with a bachelor’s degree or higher had a homeownership rate that was just three percentage points higher than for peers whose highest degree was a high school diploma. By 2019, the homeownership gap by education had grown to nearly four times that size. 12
  • 87% of bachelor’s degree holders report financial wellbeing, 20 percentage points higher than groups with any other level of education. 13

Economic, Fiscal, & Societal Impact

College graduates contribute more in taxes and are less reliant on government assistance, creating substantial ROI for society at large.

  • Thanks to higher earnings, the typical worker with a bachelor’s degree pays 86% more in taxes (or $7,800 per person) than the typical worker whose highest degree is a high school diploma.14
  • Individuals with a bachelor’s degree or higher are one-third as likely to be on Medicaid, one-fourth as likely to receive public nutrition assistance, and one-fifth as likely to receive public housing assistance than high school diploma holders.15
  • Bachelor’s degree holders are more than twice as likely to volunteer compared to high school diploma holders.16
  • Over 90% of high-quality patents are held by innovators with at least a bachelor’s degree.17
  • Over half of all entrepreneurs hold a bachelor’s degree, higher than the 38% of Americans who hold a bachelor’s degree.18

1. College Board Table CP-2 on page 13
2.  College Board Trends in Student Aid Figure CP-9 on page 18
3. College Board Figure SA-14A on page 44.
4. College Board Figure SA-14A on page 44.
5. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
6. Federal Reserve Bank of New York
7. U.S. Census Bureau
8. Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce page 3
9. Brookings Institution
10. Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances
11. Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances
12. U.S. Census Bureau
13. Federal Reserve Report on the Well-Being of U.S. Households page 6
14. College Board Education Pays page 17
15. College Board Education Pays page 35
16. College Board Education Pays page 37
17. Brookings Hamilton Project.
18. Kauffman Foundation and U.S. Census Bureau