Authors: 

Patrick Kelly    National Center for Higher Education Management Systems   Patrick@nchems.org

Heath Prince   University of Texas at Austin                         heathprince@raymarshallcenter.org

Matt Crellin     National Center for Higher Education Management Systems    Matt@nchems.org

Increasing College Attainment in the United States: The Variation in Returns to States and Their Residents, elaborates on the findings from work led by the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems and the Center for Law and Social Policy to develop online, interactive tools to estimate the returns to the individual, state and nation resulting from increases in the number of students receiving postsecondary certificates and degrees. Included in the estimations are gains in personal incomes, state and federal tax revenues, and reductions in health and corrections expenditures. Analysis of the models' outcomes indicate that there is ample evidence that the attainment of postsecondary credentials results in higher earnings for the vast majority of individuals. This is true for individuals in all 50 states, although the variation across states is quite dramatic. Just as dramatic are the revenues and cost savings generated across states as a result of increasing college attainment among working-aged residents. The combination of the two yield very different scenarios for states and their residents.