Bachelor's Degrees are worth a lot more than the cost of tuition... As more than one million university students head back to school this fall, parents across the country may be wondering about the value of a university degree. What's a university degree really worth? More than you think, according to the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada - and the payback is greater than just money.
A university graduate will earn $1.3 million more over his or her lifetime than someone who has not gone beyond high school. University graduates earn $1 million more than community college graduates, says AUCC, the group that represents Canada's 95 universities and university degree-level colleges.
Not only do university graduates earn more money, they also have fewer periods of unemployment, and tend to live healthier lives. The association backs up these points using data from Statistics Canada in a fact-filled brochure, the first in a series being released this fall to demonstrate the contributions of university graduates to the economy.
University graduates are innovative thinkers with strong problem- solving skills - valuable traits in today's quickly changing employment market. A university degree proved even more useful during the recent economic downturn. AUCC points out that, during one of the deepest recessions in 70 years, there were 150,000 net new jobs for university graduates from September 2008 to March 2010, compared to 684,000 fewer jobs for those without a degree during that same period.
