BALTIMORE (WBFF) – The price of education is expensive, especially in Baltimore where the district spends the fifth-highest amount of money per student out of the largest districts in the country, but the price of not getting an education could be even higher.
 

Graduating high school can open a lot of doors for young kids, from going to college, to getting an apprentice or other job training opportunities. A study from Rand Corporation shows the price taxpayers pay when students don’t get at least a high school education.
 

According to the study, a male high school graduate contributes $54,000 more in tax revenue compared to a male who did not graduate. That same student saves taxpayers $22,000 in social service programs and $13,000 in incarceration costs. The cost to taxpayers to ensure the student does graduate is about $15,000 according to the study. Meaning, graduating high school simply saves taxpayers approximately $74,000.
 

“Individuals who drop out often have other problems, they were failed at home or were failed by social services or something else, so they go right back into that. So, it’s going to cost the government money in corrections, in policing, in welfare and health care,” Sean Kennedy said, of the Maryland Public Policy Institute. “These individuals will be wards of the state at some point because they can’t take care of themselves.”
 

The savings don’t stop there. Another study done by Pennsylvania researchers found graduating high school boosts health outcomes as well and cuts dependence of public health programs by 60%.
 

The statewide high school graduation rate is 86.8% while Baltimore City’s 2020 high school graduation rate is 70%, down two percent from the previous years.
 

The Pennsylvania researchers also found that boosting just male graduation rates by one percent nationwide would save $1.1 billion in the cost of crime.
 

For a city like Baltimore, with a murder rate that surpassed 300 in 2020 for the sixth year in a row, graduating high school could not only save taxpayers, but also save lives.
 

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