College education enhances the income of even average students

September 30, 2014 Do Academically Marginal Students Benefit from College? The Data Says Yes. A study of Florida high-schoolers whose grades were just good enough for admission to a public university shows that higher education provided significant financial benefits for these students: 8 to 14 years after high school, their earnings were 22% higher than those of peers who hadn’t gone to college, with male students showing the largest gains, says Seth D. Zimmerman of Yale. These benefits outstrip the costs of college attendance, he says.