pega6 students graduate $375,000 ahead of college students
(continue scrolling to see the details behind the graph)
year one
for the first year after graduating high school, pega6 students and university students both invest in their post-secondary education
pega6 students pay $30k ($15k tuition and $15k* room and board), while college students pay $36k ($21k tuition** and $15k* room and board)
* source: 2021-2022 academic year; pega6 synthesis of data from the National Center for Education Statistics (table 330.40)
** source: 2021-2022 academic year; tuition source is the National Center for Education Statistics (table 331.30), adjusted to also include tuition of students who don’t receive financial aid; financial aid sources are the National Center for Education Statistics (tables 331.20 and 331.30)
divergent paths
after the first year of post-secondary education, pega6 students graduate and begin their careers, earning $100,000 per year*
whereas university students spend three more years at college paying $36,000 per year
* source: average of the national averages from Glassdoor, Salary.com, BuiltIn, Indeed (as of 10.31.24) as well as pega6 estimates
$375,000 ahead
after paying $30k and then earning $80k-$90k per year (after-tax) for the next three years*, pega6 students will have earned a net $230,000 during their first four years after high school
whereas college students will have paid (or borrowed) $140k over that same time period, meaning that pega6 students will start their lives $375k ahead of university graduates
* assumes a 25% tax rate and a 7.5% annual raise