My grandson is thinking about dropping out of college to pursue a tech startup and I need current statistics on whether degree holders still earn significantly more over their lifetimes.
Download run
Fan-out diagram
The searches the AI actually ran for this prompt.
SEED QUERY
My grandson is thinking about dropping out of college to pursue a tech startup and I need current statistics on whether degree holders still earn significantly more over their lifetimes.
3 real searches · 1 real-search pass
2026 lifetime earnings college degree high school graduate bachelor's degree Georgetown CEW lifetime earnings reportGoogle ↗
OBSERVEDShort fact
2025 2026 college degree earnings premium lifetime earnings Federal Reserve education wage gap statisticsGoogle ↗
OBSERVEDComparison
BLS education pays 2025 median weekly earnings bachelor's degree high school diploma unemploymentGoogle ↗
OBSERVEDShort fact
Badge and edge weight = share of passes that produced the query. Hover a query for its intent and routing format.
Query classes
Google's semantic query class for every sub-query: what kind of answer each search is after, simulated vs real.
ChatGPT real searches (3)
Classes come from the query-classifier (a local Laya model). 3 of 3 calls are low-confidence (under 50%) — hover a query in the table to see its confidence.
Searches and sources
ChatGPT3 real searches · gpt-6
2026 lifetime earnings college degree high school graduate bachelor's degree Georgetown CEW lifetime earnings report Google ↗
2025 2026 college degree earnings premium lifetime earnings Federal Reserve education wage gap statistics Google ↗
BLS education pays 2025 median weekly earnings bachelor's degree high school diploma unemployment Google ↗
- Education pays, 2025 : Career Outlook: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · bls.gov
- Education pays : U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · bls.gov
- Georgetown University – The College Payoff · cew.georgetown.edu
- ERIC - ED615605 - The College Payoff: More Education Doesn't Always Mean More Earnings, Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce, 2021 · eric.ed.gov
- Georgetown – The Major Payoff, 2025 · cew.georgetown.edu
- College Board – A College Degree Still Pays Off, April 2026 · newsroom.collegeboard.org
Queries
3 queries · click a column to sort
| Query / type | Search | Intent | Query class | Routing format | Cluster | Freq ↓ | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2026 lifetime earnings college degree high school graduate bachelor's degree Georgetown CEW lifetime earnings report OBSERVED | Google ↗ AI Mode ↗ | — | Short fact | — | — | 1x of 1 | |
2025 2026 college degree earnings premium lifetime earnings Federal Reserve education wage gap statistics OBSERVED | Google ↗ AI Mode ↗ | — | Comparison | — | — | 1x of 1 | |
BLS education pays 2025 median weekly earnings bachelor's degree high school diploma unemployment OBSERVED | Google ↗ AI Mode ↗ | — | Short fact | — | — | 1x of 1 |