It takes the average college student at a public university about 11 years to break even after paying for school and missing about four years worth of earning power. For those attending more pricey private schools, the breakeven point comes after about 18 years. This statistic comes from the College Board responding to criticism from Charles Miller, the former chairman of the federal Commission on the Future of Higher Education. Miller essentially said the Board was overstating the monetary pay back from higher education. You can read some of the details and the comments they elicited in the Chronicle of Higher Education news blog:

http://chronicle.com/news/article/4258/college-board-responds-to-charles-miller