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Students who attend institutions of higher education obtain a wide range of personal, financial, and other lifelong benefits; likewise, taxpayers and society as a whole derive a multitude of direct and indirect benefits when citizens have access to postsecondary education. Accordingly, uneven rates of participation in higher education across different segments of US society should be a matter of urgent interest not only to the individuals directly affected, but also to public policymakers at the federal, state, and local levels. This report presents detailed evidence of the private and public benefits of higher education. It also sheds light on the distribution of these benefits by examining both the progress and the persistent disparities in participation in postsecondary education. The benefits of higher education for individuals and for society as a whole are both monetary and nonmonetary.