ANN ARBOR---The financial value of a higher education increased in the mid-1990s, according to a federally-funded University of Michigan study. But the dollar value of a high school diploma or less dropped by 8 percent.
The new analysis of nationally representative data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, conducted by the U-M Institute for Social Research (ISR), shows that the median income of families whose heads graduated from high school was $34,569 in 1994. That's 75 percent of the median income of families headed by someone who attended college.
In 1984, by comparison, families headed by someone with a high school diploma earned 83 percent of those headed by someone who went to college.
The earnings gap between American families headed by someone who did not finish high school and those headed by someone with at least some post-graduate education also widened significantly, according to U-M economics Prof. Frank Stafford, who co-directs the Panel Study.
The median income in 1994 for families headed by someone without a high school diploma was $17, 918, or 29 percent of a family headed by someone with a college degree plus some graduate education. In 1984, by comparison, family heads who did not finish high school earned $20,291, or 36 percent of the median income of those with some post-graduate education.
"What's surprising," says Stafford, "is that even with a strong economy, which tends to boost the earnings of those with 12 or fewer years of schooling, the income and earnings gap across education groups widened."
MEDIAN FAMILY INCOME AND EARNINGS IN 1996 DOLLARS
Education of household head 1984 1994
Less than a high school diploma 20,291 17,918
High school diploma 34,569 31,648
Some college 41,794 42,160
More than a college degree 56,798 64,294
Source: University of Michigan Panel Study of
Income Dynamics
Number of interviews in 1984: 6,918
Number of interviews in 1994: 10,406