The Institute for Fiscal Studies has used DfE data to analyse the financial benefit, in terms of the earnings premium at age 30, of students gaining different degree classifications. After allowing for the characteristics of different students, such as prior attainment at school, they found that women with a 1st could expect to earn 4% more than those with a 2:1, while the premium for men was 7%. The "penalty" for getting 2:2 as opposed to a 2:1 was reduced earnings of 7% at age 30 for women and 11% for men. However,
the IFS study also found variations in the benefits and penalties of different degree classes according to which subject was studied and the type of university that was attended. For instance, both men and women who left university with a 2:2 from the most selective universities earned a fifth less on average by the age of 30 than those who got a 2:1, a gap that was much lower (6% for women and 8% for men) for graduates of the least selective institutions. The study says “degree class premiums are in many cases bigger than differences in returns between university types. The results suggest that those who get a 2:2 from a selective university would mostly have been better off with a 2:1 from a less selective one.”
