Government report Federal Reserve Board (SHED 2023)

Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2023 — Higher Education and Student Loans

Cited in 3 Likelier entries (0 risks, 3 decisions).

Used in 4 entries

For each citing entry, the verbatim excerpt and Likelier's calculation notes (how the source's number was converted to the lifetime-probability framing) are shown below. Click through to read the full claim ledger.

[1] Master's vs stop at bachelor's Decision · action side

Statistic

Among adults with a bachelor's degree or higher, 68% say the benefits of their education outweighed the costs; 32% do not

“"[Paraphrase from report — full text in PDF chapter] Among adults with a bachelor's degree or higher, 68 percent reported that the financial benefits of their education exceeded the costs, with 28 percent for those with some college or no degree and 43 percent for associate-degree holders. Adults with graduate-level debt were more likely than bachelor's-only borrowers to carry balances above $40,000, and roughly 7 percent of graduate-degree borrowers reported being behind on student loan payments."”
Calculation notes
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Federal Reserve SHED 2023, fielded October-November 2023, n=11,400 US adults via Ipsos KnowledgePanel. The 68% "worth the cost" figure for bachelor's-or-higher (inverted: 32% do not) provides a general satisfaction floor; this includes both bachelor's-only and graduate-degree holders. SHED does not isolate master's-specific regret rates. Used here to corroborate the FREOPP financial-ROI picture: roughly one-third of bachelor's-or-higher holders do not feel their education was financially worthwhile, consistent with the FREOPP estimate that ~40% of master's programs are net financial losses. The combination -- direct financial ROI plus subjective worth-the-cost reporting -- supports the 40% action- regret framing as an upper-bound estimate.
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Source date: 2024-05-21 · Accessed: 2026-05-30
[2] College major Decision · action side

Statistic

27% of engineering graduates and 31% of computer/information science graduates would choose a different major

“"Adults who studied engineering were the least likely to say they would change their field of study, at 27 percent, followed by those who studied computer and information sciences at 31 percent."”
Calculation notes
```
Federal Reserve SHED 2023, 11,000+ US adults. Engineering (27%) and CS (31%) regret rates average to ~29% for practical/STEM majors. This is a direct "would choose a different field" question, not a satisfaction inversion. We use the 29% midpoint of the two leading practical-major categories.
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Source date: 2024-05-01 · Accessed: 2026-04-26
[3] College major Decision · inaction side

Statistic

44% of social/behavioral science graduates and 43% of humanities/arts graduates would choose a different major

“"Adults who studied social and behavioral sciences were among the most likely to say they would change their field of study, at 44 percent, followed by humanities and arts at 43 percent and life sciences at 43 percent."”
Calculation notes
```
Federal Reserve SHED 2023, 11,000+ US adults. We use 44% (the social/behavioral science figure) as the representative passion-major regret rate. This is a nationally representative sample, not limited to job seekers, and uses a direct "would choose a different field" question rather than a satisfaction inversion.
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Source date: 2024-05-01 · Accessed: 2026-04-26
[4] Self-taught vs formal degree Decision · inaction side

Statistic

Among adults with a bachelor's degree or higher, 68% say their education benefits outweighed the costs; the remaining 32% do not. 35% of bachelor's-or-higher holders would choose a different field of study; 63% of student loan borrowers report payment difficulty.

“"[Paraphrase from report — full chapter is PDF] Among adults with a bachelor's degree or higher, 68 percent reported that the financial benefits of their education exceeded the costs; roughly one-third did not. Approximately 35 percent of bachelor's- or-higher holders said they would choose a different field of study if they could redo their education. Among adults with outstanding student loan balances, 63 percent reported difficulty with their loan payments. Field-of-study regret was highest in humanities and arts (43%), social and behavioural sciences (44%), and life sciences (43%); lowest in engineering (27%) and computer/information sciences (31%)."”
Calculation notes
```
Federal Reserve SHED 2023, fielded October 20 - November 5, 2023, n=11,400 US adults via Ipsos KnowledgePanel. The 31% inaction- side regret estimate is constructed from two signals: the 32% of bachelor's-or-higher holders who do NOT feel benefits outweighed costs, and the 31% field-of-study regret rate among computer/ information sciences degree holders (the closest domain match for the software-developer career path this entry focuses on). Used as the closest available proxy. The 31% CS-specific field-of- study regret rate is lower than the broader degree-holder average (35%) but still substantial. Not a direct measure of "do you regret getting a degree for your tech career"; reframed as the share of degree-holders who would either change their path or feel the cost-benefit balance was unfavourable.
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Source date: 2024-05-21 · Accessed: 2026-05-30