Is My Degree Worth It?

Percentage of Total Cost Paid through Subsidized Loans (No Interest Until Graduation like FAFSA) Percentage of Total Cost Paid through Unsubsidized Loans (Interest Starts immediately) Interest Rate of Subsidized Loans (No Interest Until Graduation (FAFSA)) % Interest Rate of Unsubsidized Loans (Interest Starts immediately) % How Many Years do you Expect to take to Graduate? How Many Years do you Expect to Work for After Graduation? What Percentage of Your Income do you plan to put Towards your Debt?

Counter-factual Income

This optional section calculates the income you would have earned had you decided to go into a profession without a college degree. It is trained on a US Census dataset with over 3 million Americans with only high school degrees. It should be noted that there may be selection bias if you select a profession that is difficult to enter with a high school degree alone such as Engineering.

Profession if you decided not to go to College? State Gender Male Female Race/Ethnicity African-American Asian Multiple Races Native American Other Race White Age you Plan to Start College?

Controlling for attributes and socio-economic background.

What we want to measure is the difference in lifetime earnings between the same person if they went to college compared to if had they decided not to. However, the average person who does not go to college does not have the same attributes or situation as someone who does go to college. Students who do not go to college are more likely not to go due to poor scores, poverty and a lack of a support system. Thus it is hard to determine whether high school graduates make less because of education or whether if they were initally more disadvantaged. A prime example is that someone from a rich family with connections who decides to forgo college to try to be an independent filmmaker is much more likely to succeed than someone without those advantages, but the majority of those with only high school degrees do not have such advantages. Therefore, there must be adjustments to income projections of professions without a college degree to control for these confounding factors.

What is your Total Family Income? What is your SAT score (On a 1600 Scale Please)? What is your High School GPA (Out of 4.00)? What is your Height (Feet) (Between 3 and 9 please)? What is your Height (Inches) (Between 0 and 11 Please)? What is your Weight (Pounds) (Between 50 and 900lbs please)? How many times have you been arrested? 0 1 2 3 to 5 6 to 10 11 or More How would you rate your own health? Poor Fair Good Very Good Excellent What type of household did you grow up in? Dual parent household composed of both biological parents Dual parent household composed of one biological parent and one non-biological parent Single parent household Other What is the highest degree owned by your direct family members (Mother/Father)? None GED High School Diploma Associates Degree Bachelors Degree Master's Degree Professional Degree (Law School/Medical School/Dental School) PhD How organized do you consider yourself to be? Very Disorganized Generally Disorganized Neither Disorganized or Organized Generally Organized Very Organized Would you consider yourself to be Quarrelsome or Agreeable? Very Quarrelsome Generally Quarrelsome Neither Agreeable nor Quarrelsome Generally Agreeable Very Agreeable Would you consider yourself to be Trusting or Distrustful? Very Distrustful Generally Distrustful Neutral Generally Trustful Very Trusting Does the statement "extraverted and enthusiastic" describes you accurately? Disagree strongly Disagree moderately Disagree a little Neither agree nor disagree Agree a little Agree moderately Agree strongly Does the statement "anxious and easily upset" describes you accurately? Disagree strongly Disagree moderately Disagree a little Neither agree nor disagree Agree a little Agree moderately Agree strongly Does the statement "sympathetic and warm" describes you accurately?" Disagree strongly Disagree moderately Disagree a little Neither agree nor disagree Agree a little Agree moderately Agree strongly Does the statement "conventional and uncreative" describes you accurately?" Disagree strongly Disagree moderately Disagree a little Neither agree nor disagree Agree a little Agree moderately Agree strongly Do you agree with this statement, "I do not intend to follow every little rule that others make up"? Disagree strongly Disagree moderately Disagree a little Neither agree nor disagree Agree a little Agree moderately Agree strongly Does this statement apply to you, "Setbacks don't discourage me"? Not like me at all Not much like me Somewhat like me Mostly like me Very much like me Does this statement apply to you, "I can easily maintain my focus on projects that take more than a few months to complete"? Not like me at all Not much like me Somewhat like me Mostly like me Very much like me