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The Prudent Scholar explores the topic of money and higher education. We look at at big picture and small: both the latest news and the nitty-gritty details of college life that might help you save money and get more value from your educational experience.

March 10, 2011

College vs. Gold

 
   Think college costs have skyrocketed in the last thirty years? Buttonwood's Notebook at the The Economist compares the price of gold with the price of education.

The blog post is a good illustration of how statistics can be used in different ways. But, looking at the two commodities in several different ways, Buttonwood finds that gold has outpaced higher education by leaps and bounds.
"The two figures were roughly similar in 1971 when the US went off the gold standard; the higher education index was at 42.1 while gold was $40.62 an ounce. Since then, the higher education index has risen sevenfold while gold has risen almost 36-fold."
Buttonwood's assessment is that gold is incredibly overvalued.  Is higher education?

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