THE ECONOMIC VALUE OF A UW-SUPERIOR EDUCATION TO STUDENTS AND WISCONSIN
In this part we analyze the long-term economic impacts generated from the investment in human capital when a student earns a degree from UW-Superior. We evaluate this educational investment’s internal rate of return (IRR) from the perspective of a student and from the perspective of a Wisconsin taxpayer. This section calculates the internal rates of return for three main types of income streams that characterize students at UW-Superior, including: No Part-Time Job and No Student Loans Student Loans and No Part-Time Job Part-Time Job and No Student Loans We will compare each income stream’s IRR to the average annual rates of return on Treasury bills, government bonds, and common stocks from 1928-2018. No Part-Time Employment and No Loans Suppose a college freshman at UW-Superior pays full tuition, fees, and book expenses of $9,109.50 and forgoes $20,229 of full-time employment income for each of all five years of college. Costs in the first year equal $20,229 + $9,109.50 = $29,338.50. Tuition, fees, and book expenses increase at 1.23 percent each year so that in the sophomore year, costs rise to $29,450.55 ($20,229 + $9,221.55). By the fifth year of college, costs will rise to $29,795.02. The investment’s benefits do not begin to accrue until the student earns the college degree and enters the workforce at age 23. The initial salary benefits of college are greatly below the $41,725.33 average. It rises to $33,219 between work life years of 23 and 27 and down to $28,100 as the college graduate approaches retirement. Bottom row of Table 5 shows that the sum of the net present values of costs and benefits in this income stream are both equal to $109,839.49. The annual rate of discount at which this equality occurs is the IRR of 10.76 percent per year.
Out of 239 respondents, approximately 57% of UW-Superior students worked at off campus jobs
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