Ben Franklin once said that an “investment in knowledge pays the best interest.” Ben Franklin also wanted our national bird to be the turkey, but that didn’t work out either, so I don’t feel as bad when stating that the Renaissance man may be wrong again.
After all, our little investment in knowledge at Columbia is pretty big – $41,160 a year without fees, books, or housing. But there may be an issue with the returned interest from this investment. Remember when people used to make a big deal about how much more stupid kids were getting over summer break? Researchers at the University of Missouri reported that elementary school students lost about one month of general knowledge during the three months they were out of school—effectively making their school year eight, not nine, months long. We took some (big) liberties with this research and extrapolated how much knowledge—and money—we lost over break.
