Paying for college can be a costly proposition, so some students may question whether their schooling is really worth the cost of tuition in the long run. It isn’t surprising for students to wonder about the issue as they go about signing up for a student loan, searching for scholarships or applying for campus jobs to raise the money they need.

The simple answer to the question is that education really does pay. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has documented that more highly educated citizens tend to have higher earnings and lower unemployment rates than those who have less schooling.

In 2009, the median income for a person with less than a high school education was $454 a week, according to BLS reports. The weekly median earnings increased as educational level increased. For example, people with high school diplomas had a median income of $626. Those with bachelor degrees made $1,025 weekly and those with doctorates made $1,532.

The unemployment rate for Americans with less than a high school diploma was 14.6 percent in 2009. For high school graduates, the unemployment rate was only 9.7 percent. College graduates with a bachelor’s degree had an average 5.2 percent unemployment rate, and those with doctorate degrees had a 2.5 percent rate.

Over the last 25 years, the salaries of people with a higher education have been rising more rapidly than those who do not have a college degree, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. In addition, those with college or professional degrees also could expect to earn more money over their lifetime than those without these degrees, the U.S. Census Bureau reports.

A college education also promises to grow in value in the future. The BLS Current Population Survey indicates that occupations that primarily hire college graduates are projected to gain new jobs more quickly than other employment fields. The survey estimated that "pure college" occupations would grow 22 percent between 2002 and 2012, compared to an average 15 percent for all jobs.

A variety of options are available to students to pay for college expenses, including scholarships and grants, private student loans, federal programs and work-study jobs. When students begin to examine ways to finance their education, they can feel confident that they are making a choice that should have a positive impact on their future in the work force. Once students have graduated, research clearly demonstrates that they should also have a greater chance of staying employed and earning more money in their lifetime than if they had not pursued a higher learning degree.