A Good Investment

What experience can produce lifelong friendships, nurture a respect for civic participation and create more lifetime earnings? In a word: COLLEGE.

You might say "yes, but sending people to college is your business" and that is true. ISM Education Loans, Indiana's not-for-profit provider of federal student loans is in the business of sending people to college. But our first goal is to provide the education and guidance to Hoosier families to let them make informed decisions about the future of their students. And, according to the 2006 Update of Education Pays, conducted by the College Board, the following are true:

• Higher levels of education lead to higher earnings. Over a working life, the typical full-time year-round worker with a four-year college degree earns more than 60 percent more than a worker with only a high school diploma.
• Those with master's degrees earn almost twice as much per year, and those with professional degrees earn almost three times as much per year as high school graduates over their working lives.
• Median lifetime earnings for the typical individual with some college but no degree are 19 percent higher than median lifetime earnings for high school graduates with no college experience.
• The typical college graduate, who enrolls at age 18 and graduates in four years, earns enough in 11 years to not only compensate for borrowing to pay the full tuition at a public college, but also to make up for wages forgone while in college.
• College-educated workers are more likely than others to be offered pension plans. Among those who are offered pension plans, college degree-holders are more likely to participate.
• Among men, median earnings of four year college graduates are 63 percent higher than high school graduates.
• Among women, the gap is 70 percent.
• Even those who attend some college earn about 20 percent more than those with only a high school education.
• Over the course of a lifetime, in addition to the friendships and civic aspects gained in college, an advanced education will produce tens of thousands of dollars more income, lessen the chance of unemployment and provide a distinctly more interesting life.