Date of Award

January 2013

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Economics & Finance

First Advisor

David Flynn

Abstract

Post-secondary education is one of the most important decisions a student is faced with when leaving high school. There have been numerous studies as to whether the additional education is worthy of one's time and attention but what has not been addressed where is important. If one plans to live in a certain area it would be extremely beneficial to know whether your education is going to benefit one's financial situation or not. Utilizing incomes as the dependent variable and Ordinary Least Squares as the econometric method, this paper concludes having advanced degrees in the metropolitan areas are very beneficial whereas it is much less impactful in micropolitan areas. It also suggests the lack of an advanced degree will generate a negative impact on one's income but when taking into consideration the inherent effects of the micropolitan area, there is a small premium to be obtained.

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