ATLANTA — Southern adults with a bachelor’s degree as their highest education level earn nearly twice the annual income of residents with a high school diploma or GED certificate alone, the Southern Regional Education Board reports.
A college education gives Southern states and individuals many other economic and social advantages, SREB reports in the latest Fact Book Bulletin: College Degrees Benefit States and Individuals Significantly. States benefit from increased tax revenue, increased consumer spending and greater productivity when more residents hold bachelor’s degrees, while individuals with bachelor’s degrees enjoy higher incomes, more savings, lower unemployment and improved health, and they vote and volunteer at higher rates than those with a high school education alone.
The reported good health of Southerners with no more than a high school education is the lowest in the nation, the Fact Book Bulletin notes. But the increase in reported good health for adults with a bachelor’s degree as their highest education level is higher in the South (13 percentage points more) than in any other region, outranking the Northeast, Midwest and West.
Both high school-educated adults and those with no more than a bachelor’s degree in the South have the lowest rate of volunteer work in the nation compared with their peers in other regions. The voting rate for adults in both groups was the third highest in the nation; Midwest adults ranked highest. The report is based on U.S. Census Bureau data.
Joe Marks, the director of Education Data Services at SREB, is available to speak with journalists about the report. Please contact SREB Communications. A copy of the report also is available on the home page at www.sreb.org.
SREB, a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization based in Atlanta, Georgia, advises state education leaders on ways to improve education. SREB was created in 1948 by Southern governors and legislatures to help leaders in education and government work cooperatively to advance education and improve the social and economic life of the region. SREB has 16 member states: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia. Each is represented by its governor and four gubernatorial appointees.
