[randomdata]

Degrees come with their own survivorship bias. Every level of the education system seeks to filter out those who are less capable in certain areas. This makes the "college graduates earn 30% more" meaningless, because most people are not capable of succeeding in college in the first place, and whatever causes that probably also prevents them from succeeding in the workplace, statistically speaking.

I think where the parent was going is, if you took two people who are equal in every single way, except for one acquiring a college degree, how would their lifetime earnings differ?