Smart and ambitious students should go to community college and state school, and save their money for funding their dreams. At least that’s one way to look at a study by the National Bureau of Economic Research that found going to a college where kids have higher SAT scores doesn’t result in more money after they graduate.

In fact, those students who submitted apps for several big time schools, but were either rejected or decided not to go, ended up earning more money on average than those kids who actually went to those schools.

In conclusion, the researchers said that, “evidently, students’ motivation, ambition and desire to learn have a much stronger effect on their subsequent success than average academic ability of their classmates.”

Score one for the bootstraps.

Does It Matter Where You Go to College? [NYT] (Thanks to c-side!)

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