Josiah Jessup
2024-12-07
I am originally from Michigan. I grew up doing a variety of agricultural jobs from tending sheep to working on a commercial flower farm to selling produce at farmer’s markets in Michigan and Illinois.
First ‘real job’ was as an elected official (township trustee) at 19.
While working as a farm hand and township trustee, I started working on my associate’s degree at a community college and pursued technical training as a paramedic.
I was up for election at 23 and for a variety of reasons, I decided not to run for township office again and instead enlisted as a combat medic / healthcare specialist in the U.S. Army.
While in the Army I have moved a variety of times which brings me here to Washington state.
I decided much later to pursue in earnest a degree in either Computer Science or Information Technology as I would one day like to get into software engineering and video game design or development.
Though I started working on my college degree in 2015, I did not officially complete my associates’ until 2021 and am on track to complete my bachelors’ in 2025.
Purpose of this project is to review data pertaining to the median age of 4-year and 6-year degree attainment in the U.S.
A secondary objective of this project is to gauge the worth of a college degree by comparing the median age of degree attainment with the average median income of U.S. citizens.
By doing this, we will be able to see if degree conferment has any substantial impact on affecting average income in the U.S.
Growing up in a rural community, I was often around people who questioned the value of higher education. The pre-dominant thought being that by spending 2-4 years, or more, dedicated to college would not only be putting any substantial earning opportunities on hold (technical work, farm work, etc.), but could also lead to debt which may not be recoverable from.
There was always this notion too that people would pursue a degree that may not directly translate into a career field after graduation.
This paper is not necessarily meant to be a scientific study. It’s more a passion project.
What is the average age of degree attainment in the U.S? (separate surveys for 4-year and 6-year degrees)
What is the average annual income of Americans by age?
Is attaining a college degree (either bachelor’s or master’s) related to increasing earning potential? (compare average age of degree attainment for 4-year and 6-year degrees with average annual income of Americans in the same age pool)
Data used in this project will be coming from the U.S. Census Bureau for both average age of degree attainment and average household income.
Link to Census Bureau for educational attainment: https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2022/educational-attainment.html
Link to Census Bureau for household income: https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2024/demo/p60-282.html
Although the I am pulling the data for this project from the U.S. Census Bureau, here is a collection of additional articles I used for research and to help me better understand various views on the question.
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2022/04/12/10-facts-about-todays-college-graduates/
https://ncses.nsf.gov/surveys/national-survey-college-graduates/2021#data
https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2024/05/23/is-college-worth-it-2/
https://hbr.org/2023/02/how-important-is-a-college-degree-compared-to-experience
To summarize, my research project will pull data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics in order to compare the average annual income of Americans with degrees and those without to get a look at the value of higher education and to better understand the median age of degree attainment.