(MONEY Magazine) – How a degree pays off -- The cost of a year at Harvard has climbed faster than these other prices over the past 15 years:

-- Financial aid has badly lagged the blistering rise in tuition. The total aid from schools, states and the federal government hit $30.8 billion in 1991-92, up 197% from 1976-77. But that's far behind the average increases in public and private college tuition.

-- Students have to borrow more. Today, for example, far more aid is given out as loans than as grants. The opposite was true 15 years ago.

-- Still, higher education remains a worthwhile investment. Men and women with bachelor's degrees earn more than those whose education stops with high school and run less risk of being out of work.

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