23% of bachelor's degrees and 43% of master's degrees have a negative ROI

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

ROI vs broader value of education

  • Many argue education shouldn’t be reduced to financial ROI; it also brings fulfillment, wisdom, critical thinking, and life experience.
  • Others counter that when degrees cost $50k–$300k and create decades of debt, ROI is unavoidable for individuals.
  • Several note happiness isn’t determined by income alone, but debt and low earnings can severely undermine well‑being.

Cost, debt, and funding structures

  • US tuition is widely viewed as “insane,” especially relative to Europe, where public universities are low-cost or nearly free at point of use.
  • Commenters link high prices to easy federal loans, reduced state funding, and university spending on facilities and administration.
  • Fixed-rate federal loans and flat tuition across majors are criticized as ignoring differences in earning potential and risk.

Labor market, credentials, and inequality

  • Degrees are seen as a screening mechanism employers use to offload training costs and circumvent discrimination constraints.
  • Some suggest banning generic degree requirements or allowing direct access to licensing exams (law, medicine) without mandatory school.
  • Several warn that more degrees don’t automatically create more high-paying jobs; over-supply can depress wages in saturated fields.

Degree choice, majors, and outcomes

  • Thread highlights large ROI variation by major and institution: engineering/CS/nursing at strong schools vs arts, education, some humanities elsewhere.
  • Some say many humanities/social-science programs function as low-ROI or negative-ROI “status goods,” especially for already-wealthy students.
  • Others stress non-monetary benefits: career changes enabled by master’s degrees, relationships, psychological insight, and personal growth.

Policy and reform ideas

  • Proposals:
    • Reduce or cap tuition and administrative overhead (ACA-style spending ratios).
    • Make public higher ed cheaper/free while tightening academic standards.
    • Require transparent program-level outcomes (earnings, debt, career alignment).
    • Adjust lending terms or public subsidies by field-level ROI while preserving access.

Data and study criticisms

  • Some distrust the cited study’s sponsor and methodology (risk adjustment, counterfactual earnings modeling, use of medians vs means).
  • Others dive into the raw ROI tables and note many fields still have positive ROI, and time windows (10 years) may be too short to capture full payoff.