Four years of classes. Thousands of dollars to pay for those classes. Is a college education really worth all the time and expense?

If you look at the numbers, the answer is a resounding yes.

Here are some eye-popping statistics from the College Board (www.collegeboard.com), a not-for-profit membership association whose mission is to connect students to college success and opportunity.

• The typical college graduate who enrolls at age 18 earns enough in the first 11 years to compensate for taking time out of the labor force and borrowing to pay the full tuition at a public four-year college.
• Over a working lifetime, the typical full-time, year-round worker with a four-year college degree earns 60 percent more than a worker with only a high school diploma.

So what does that mean in dollars and cents?

Take these numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau. In 2008 (the most recent information available), the mean annual earnings of people age 18 and over with a high school diploma was $31,300. For that same age demographic with a bachelor’s degree, the mean annual earnings were $58,600.

Even so, as the economy took a hit during the Great Recession, so too did starting salaries of new college graduates.

Statistics from the Fall 2009 issue of Salary Survey, a quarterly report published by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (www.naceweb.org), show the starting salaries for college graduates in a variety of fields.

And the benefits of a college education go beyond salaries.

The College Board 2007 “Education Pays” report stated that in addition to higher personal earnings, the availability of employer-sponsored health benefits and pension plans increases with every level of education completed. For example, almost 70 percent of full-time employees with at least a bachelor’s degree have access to pension plans while only 53 percent of high school graduates
have that access.

Even a few years of college education is better than none, says the
College Board report.

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.