The analysis, published in Economics of Education Review , challenges the conventional wisdom that early career earning potential is boosted by obtaining a university degree, particularly for women. The researchers studied a sample of 2,878 millennials born in 1989 and 1990 who were participants in the UCL Centre for Longitudinal Studies’ Next Steps cohort study. The researchers were able to pinpoint their annual wages at age 25, but the Next Steps study provided additional data on hourly wages