Doesn't this mean the value of a university degree has increased?
If you now have to have a degree just to make it to the 40th percentile of the earning bracket that surely means it is more required than ever, and thus worth more.
If you now have to have a degree just to make it to the 40th percentile of the earning bracket that surely means it is more required than ever, and thus worth more.
Concrete example: a generation ago you could get your foot in the door at a bank with a high school diploma as a teller. Today? You need a 4-year degree in finance. Further, if you walked into that same bank with that same 4-year degree a generation ago, you'll probably be much further up the ladder than teller.
Your analysis misses the "what can you achieve without a degree?" part of the equation.
So, if we consider value to be the expected life time value of obtaining a degree with respect to the person's net worth and plot it over time I would assume that this value would be decreasing.
Some would argue that the signal was a better product than the underlying asset.