UC undergraduate degrees give students greater financial security and higher earnings compared to non-University degree-holders, according to a June study by the University’s Institutional Research and Academic Planning department.

The study – which looked at students’ economic outcomes up to 20 years after enrolling in a UC institution – analyzed college students’ cost of attendance. It also compared the wages students could have earned by working after high school to the salary increases they received by attending college at the University.

The department used data from the Public Policy Institute of California, a nonprofit think tank that aims to improve California public policy.

“Many Americans are questioning the value of a college degree,” UC President James Milliken said in a July 1 press release. “We have a clear answer: A UC degree is not only worth it — it changes lives and entire communities for the better.”

UC alumni break even on their educational investments six years after enrolling, according to the study. People with a UC bachelor’s degree also make more than $600,000 more on average during a 15-year period than they would have if they had not gone to college, the report said.

The unemployment rate for recent college graduates between the ages of 22 and 27 is currently at 5.6% – higher than the national unemployment rate of all workers at 4.2% as of March, according to data from the census bureau. Low job turnover and artificial intelligence threatening entry level jobs have contributed to employment gaps, according to the New York Times.

Tobias Higbie, the director of the Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, a research center focused on labor and workplace justice, said more people having college degrees has expanded the working class.

“Over the last 60 years, college degrees have expanded to a much bigger part of the workforce,” said Higbie, a professor of history and labor studies. “That impacts younger people in particular because more and more young people have higher levels of education than older cohorts.”

While artificial intelligence will change the landscape of the labor market and college degrees, AI automation won’t replace the need for entry level jobs in the long-term, he said. He added that many voters, especially in California, prioritize a college education.

However, new technologies could change the industries college graduates may typically work in, Higbie said.

“The world of white collar work is going to undergo big changes in the next 20 years because so-called AI technology is really geared towards automating a lot of tasks that people with college degrees might have done,” he said.

UC alumni’s median earnings six years after enrolling was $78,000 per year, which is higher than the median earnings for other degree holders in California, according to the study.

Most students across the University also graduate debt free, and the average student debt for an in-state UC graduate has declined by $11,400 in the past decade, the study said.

“As costs are rising nationwide and college graduates enter one of the most competitive job markets in recent history, UC’s commitment to making a college education more affordable and accessible has never been more important,” UC Board of Regents Chair Janet Reilly said in the July 1 press release. “This data shows that a UC degree continues to give graduates a measurable, lasting advantage.”