Reaping the Benefits: Defining the Public and Private Value of Going to College
Published Mar 1998
Report providing a broad overview of the public and private benefits that accrue from college education, hoping to help broaden public understanding of education
What are the benefits of going to college? This report provides a broad overview of the public and private benefits that accrue from college education. The goal of the publication is to catalogue these benefits by providing a more accurate and inclusive picture than is commonly understood. This may help to broaden public understanding of the value of higher education, and thereby lead to more rational, longer-term consideration of governmental and societal investment in collegiate learning. The report includes an analysis of historical discussions about higher education benefits, and a review of the changing public dialogue about public and private benefits. The bulk of the report’s findings are devoted to characterizing the benefits of higher education into a simple typology of public social, public economic, private social, and private economic benefits.