As was to be expected the greater number with capital invested who matriculated in agriculture have investments in farming, 1,105 out of a total of 2,263 who are in business for themselves, at least to the extent of capital investments. Slightly more than 900 have capital invested in business other than farming or related agricultural enterprises. Slightly more of the entire group, graduates and nongraduates, are not owners than are owners. But of the graduates 1,614 are not owners as compared with 1,407 who are, while 685 nongraduates are not owners as compared with 856 who are. facts do not, of course, indicate conclusively that the nongraduates are in larger proportions more prosperous than graduates; more general ownership of business does not necessarily indicate larger income. These In view of recent doubt that has been raised concerning the finan cial advantages of college education, it is interesting to attempt to discover whether agricultural nongraduates who have capital invested have earned it more generally than is the case of graduates. Table 39 shows that of the total number of agricultural graduates that have capital invested in amounts of less than $10,000, 34.9 per cent earned the money and that of the total number of nongraduates with similar amounts invested, 35.7 earned their capital. Similar comparisons for those who have more than $10,000 invested show that 19.1 per cent of the graduates and 18.9 per cent of the nongraduates earned their capital. The differences are so slight as to have no significance. The tables show that engineering matriculants less usually have capital investments in the business than is the case of agriculture, 21.7 per cent as compared with 42.4 per cent. The percentages of the different types of engineering specializations that have capital invested vary only slightly; 14.9 per cent of the chemical, 18.3 per cent of the civil, 21.5 per cent of the mining, 22.9 per cent of the mechanical, and 23.3 per cent of the electrical engineers have capital invested. However, the engineers who have earned capital invested, in amounts of less than $10,000 constitute 57.8 per cent of the total number with investments, while those with earned capital in excess of $10,000 constitute 25 per cent of the total. The corresponding figures for agriculture matriculants are 35.2 per cent and 19.1 per cent. Very few home economics matriculants, even after homemakers and teachers are excluded, have capital invested. Only 8.2 per cent have such investments. However, those who have less than $10,000 earned capital invested constitute 44 per cent of the total with capital, and those with more than $10,000 earned capital constitute 10 per cent |
