The study everyone cites in the prestige debate measured earnings only. It never counted cost, taxes, or time. Add what prestige costs and Dale and Krueger’s famous finding gets stronger: at full sticker price, nearly half of America’s most selective colleges leave their own median graduate behind the high school path. Aid is what rescues…

The most celebrated new college-value study fixed the flaws skeptics spent years flagging, then stopped before the money math. Discount its own headline number and $86,806 becomes about $24,800. The debate is not over. It finally has its real starting point.