Digital Media Center
Bryant-Denny Stadium, Gate 4
Box 870370
920 Paul Bryant Drive
Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0370
205-348-6644

© 2026 Alabama Public Radio
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Join us for APR's Fall Pledge Drive! Sept. 9–18. Make a donation by clicking here!

Buying A College Degree: Did Aunt Becky Overpay?

NPR

This week's news stories about corruption and cheating in the college admissions process is an eye-opening lesson in how much people value getting their children into certain schools.

Lori Loughlin, who played Aunt Becky on the TV sitcom Full House, paid $500,000 to get her two daughters into the University of Southern California. That seemed like a lot to us... and raised the question: is a slot at a top-tier university worth that kind of money?

An impossible question to answer, you say? Well, Adam Brownlee, a finance professor at Western Kentucky University, has taken a stab at trying to answer it. He joins us today to talk about the economic value of a college degree.

Music by Drop Electric. Find us: Twitter/ Facebook.

Subscribe to our show on Apple Podcasts, PocketCasts and NPR One.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Stacey Vanek Smith is the co-host of NPR's The Indicator from Planet Money, and is a correspondent for Planet Money.
Cardiff Garcia is a co-host of NPR's The Indicator from Planet Money podcast, along with Stacey Vanek Smith. He joined NPR in November 2017.
News from Alabama Public Radio is a public service in association with the University of Alabama. We depend on your help to keep our programming on the air and online. Please consider supporting the news you rely on with a donation today. Every contribution, no matter the size, propels our vital coverage. Thank you.