Inside Higher Ed published an article this week about a new College Board report regarding the non-financial value of college. Specifically, the College Board has found a correlation between college graduation and better health. In fact, both the College Board and Inside Higher Ed strongly imply that college attendance actually leads to better health.
However, this College Board study is somewhat irresponsible, because it only found a correlation and did not prove causation. For example, it's possible that college graduates could be in better health than non-grads because college graduates tend to come from families that value good health. Or because college graduates tend to be smarter, and smart people tend to take better care of themselves, whether they go to college or not.
A better study would have been to compare college graduates with smart people who didn't go to college, but the College Board didn't do this. Instead, they conducted a study that supports their views. After all, the College Board makes more money when more people go to college.
I'm not saying that college is worthless. But I think this study is, because it's misleading. And the researchers are somewhat irresponsible by presenting the results in this way. Any student who turned in a research analysis like this would fail their class.
The College Board, and other organizations, will probably continue to publish misleading research studies that tend to overstate the value of college, and understate the costs. However, students can protect themselves by critically evaluating these studies, realizing that the results may not always be entirely valid, and that the sponsors may not always have their best interests at heart.
