大学文凭回报率高于股市

  Even in today's very tough job market, a college degree is the best long-term investment – by far, promising higher returns than stocks, bonds, housing, and even gold, according to a study released this week by the Brookings Institution.
    即便是在当下异常严峻的就业市场上，截至目前为止，大学文凭仍然是最好的长期投资。本周，布鲁金斯学会（Brookings Institution）发布的一项研究称，比起股票、债券、房产，甚至是黄金来说，大学文凭的回报率都要更高。

    The Washington, DC-based think tank crunches some interesting numbers:
    这家位于华盛顿的智库对下面这些有趣的数字进行了一番计算：

    On average, a four-year degree is the equivalent of an investment that returns 15.2% a year. That's more than double the average return to stock market investments since the 1950s, which average 6.8%; more than five times the return to investments in corporate bonds, which return 2.9%; gold at 2.3%, long-term government bonds at 2.2% and housing at 0.4%.
   平均而言，四年的大学学位相当于一笔年回报率在15.2%的投资。这一数字是自20世纪50年代以来的股票投资平均回报率6.8%的2倍还多；是公司债券平均回报率2.9%的5倍还多；而黄金的平均回报率是2.3%，长期政府债券是2.2%，房产是0.4%。

    Admittedly, a college education demands pretty hefty costs upfront.
    无可否认，大学教育需要提前支付大笔成本。

    Researchers Michael Greenstone and Adam Looney estimate costs of a four-year college degree at $102,000 and about $28,000 for a two-year associate's degree. This factors in the typical costs of tuition and fees (minus room and board, since as researcher noted, you eat and sleep whether or not you go to college), as well as pay that students give up if they had spent their years right after high school working instead of going to college.
    研究员迈克尔．格林斯通和亚当．鲁尼估算，四年的大学本科学位要花费102,000美元，两年的专科学位要花约28,000美元。这一结果计算了学费和规费这些标准支出（同时，两位研究员指出，要减去食宿费，因为不管上不上大学，这两项支出都必不可少），还纳入了学生所放弃的薪酬，也就是如果他们高中一毕业就选择工作而非上大学所应得的报酬。