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Auburn, Aug. 7---Decisions made during high school can literally make or break you. Career choices, such as where you go to school and what type of degree or certification to pursue, determine how much money you will make and the type of lifestyle you will enjoy.

When comparing the average annual income of dropouts who are at least age 25 to the annual income of high school graduates in the same age bracket, the wage gap is almost doubled. In recent years, the difference between annual wages earned by ninth grade dropouts and high school graduates was 48 percent. High school graduates earned an average of $20,968 annually compared to those dropouts who earned $10,838.

Those who remained in school longer, but failed to get a diploma or GED earned a little more than $13,600.

The difference between male and female graduates and dropouts is even more dramatic, says Dr. Jacquelyn Robinson, a community workforce development specialist with the Alabama Cooperative Extension System.

"Females who drop out of school in the ninth grade or earlier can expect to make only 56 percent as much as their male counterparts." For these young women, their average earning power is either below or near the poverty level of $8,501 for a single person."

Earning potential increases proportionally with educational attainment most of the time. The average annual income for a person with a four-year degree is about 1.8 times more than that of a high school graduate. If you assume a modest 4 percent inflation rate, the difference in earnings between a person with a college degree and a person with a high school diploma over a 30-year work life will amount to more than a million dollars.

"If college graduates simply saved the difference between what they earn as a result of their degree and what they would have earned if they had stopped

their education after high school, they would save over a million dollars by the time they retire. If they invested this difference, they could easily have several million dollars in their portfolio at retirement," says Robinson.

SOURCE: Dr. Jacquelyn Robinson, Community Workforce Development Specialist, Alabama Cooperative Extension System (334) 844-5353