評論
打印
Colleges: Consumer Products or Investments?
大學是投資還是消費？
There are few more sobering online activities than entering data into college-tuition calculators and gasping as the Web spits back a six-figure sum.
幾乎沒有什么在線活動比輸入數據計算大學學費更重大的了，當網頁上出現六位數的計算記過時，您可能會驚訝得屏住呼吸。
But economists say families about to go into debt to fund four years of partying, as well as studying, can console themselves with the knowledge that college is an investment that, unlike many bank stock, should yield huge dividends.
但是，經濟學家認為與銀行股票不同，大學學費是一筆注定獲利豐厚的投資，即使各個家庭因為為孩子四年的學習和社交生活支付學費而負債累累，也可以因此聊以自慰。
A 2008 study by two Harvard economists notes that the "labor-market premium to skill"-or the amount college graduates earned that's greater than what high-school graduate earned-decreased for much of the 20th century, but has come back with a vengeance（報復性地）since the 1980s.
哈佛大學的兩位經濟學家2008年的一項調查顯示“勞動力市場技能溢價”——20世紀的大多時期，大學畢業生的薪酬雖然高于高中畢業生，但這個差距正逐漸縮小。然而，20世紀80年代以來，這個差距再次拉大。
There's no question that going to college is a smart economic choice. But a look at the strange variations in tuition reveals that the choice about which college to attend doesn't come down merely to dollars and cents.
毫無疑問，上大學是聰明的決定、實惠的選擇。但是，各大學數目不一的學費也著實讓人奇怪，這也說明選擇進入哪所大學學習也不僅僅至關乎金錢。
Does going to Columbia University yield a 40% greater return than attending the University of Colorado at Boulder as an out-of-state student? Probably not. Does being an out-of-state student at the University of Colorado at Boulder yield twice the amount of income as being an in-state student there? Not likely.
哥倫比亞大學的學生其將來的薪酬回報會比博爾德克羅拉大學的外州學生高出40%嗎？不一定。博爾德科羅拉多大學的外州學生其將來的薪酬會比該校內州學生高出一倍嗎？也不一定。
No, in this consumerist age, most buyers aren't evaluating college as an investment, but rather as a consumer product-like a car or clothes or a house. And with such purchases, price is only one of many crucial factors to consider.
不，在這個崇尚消費的時代，大多數買主并不把上大學看做是投資，而是將其看做消費產品——就如一輛私家車和一屋子的衣服。購買這類商品時，價格只是需要考慮的眾多關鍵因素之一。
So which is it? Is college an investment product like a stock or a consumer product like a car? In keeping with the automotive world's hottest consumer trend, maybe it's best to characterize is as a bybird（混合動力汽車）: an expensive consumer product that, over time, will pay rich dividends.
因此，大學到底是什么呢？是像股票一樣的投資產品還是像汽車一樣的消費品？按照汽車行業最熱門的消費趨勢來說，大學也許更像是一輛混合動力汽車：價格昂貴但回報日益豐厚的消費品。
