<p>Mikemac, I'm so glad that someone's really looked at that study. I think this is significant, "Hence it would not be surprising that he would want to find that pricy elite colleges don't help future earnings."</p>
<p>Any valid study should just present the data and carefully highlight the assumptions. The researchers should not have any predefined prejudices. I've been uncomfortable when other posters have brought up this paper as the definitive answer to whether or not selective colleges are worth the premium paid for students to attend. Caroline Hoxby has other studies which show the opposite -- that there is a significant difference in earnings by those who attend the most selective colleges, and that there is typically a pretty rapid return on investment. I read her papers, and looked at the Kreuger study, when we were trying to decide where our older son would attend college. We did decide that the more selective school was the better choice and we hope the financial justification works out.</p>