In a recent op-ed in the New York Times, Henry M. Levin and Cecilia E. Rouse argue that increasing high school graduation rates in the United States is vital for the country's well being and will even "pay for itself."
They write: "When the costs of investment to produce a new graduate are taken into account, there is a return of $1.45 to $3.55 for every dollar of investment, depending upon the educational intervention strategy. Under this estimate, each new graduate confers a net benefit to taxpayers of about $127,000 over the graduate’s lifetime. This is a benefit to the public of nearly $90 billion for each year of success in reducing the number of high school dropouts by 700,000 — or something close to $1 trillion after 11 years."
Good old Microsoft. Is there anything that they can't do?