Until recently, economists believed Ivy League colleges weren’t necessarily worth the price tag, in terms of the additional income their graduates earn. A seminal report in 2002 found that good students at non-Ivy League colleges went on to earn on average the same salaries as students who graduated from the “Ivy Plus schools”—the eight Ivy League schools plus Stanford, MIT, Duke, and the University of Chicago.
However, a report released Monday re-examines the value of an Ivy League education, factoring in prestige and career achievement. Conducted by researchers from Harvard and Brown, the study finds that while an Ivy League degree may not always result in higher earnings than other schools, it improves a graduate’s chances of getting into a prestigious firm or eventually becoming a power player in their industry.
