Economists report that a college education adds many thousands of dollars to a man’s lifetime income - which he then spends sending his son to college.

Bill Vaughan (1915–1977) was an American columnist and humorist whose syndicated newspaper pieces often turned on wry observations about modern life, family, and middle-class aspirations. This quip fits his recurring theme of puncturing earnest “expert” claims—here, the economist’s promise that education yields higher lifetime earnings—by pointing to the domestic reality that those gains are quickly absorbed by the next generation’s costs. The joke reflects the post–World War II expansion of college attendance in the United States and the growing sense, by mid-century, that higher education was both an economic investment and an expensive rite of passage for children.

The line satirizes the idea of education as a straightforward financial return. Vaughan accepts the economists’ premise—college increases lifetime income—only to undercut it with the punchline that the extra money is effectively earmarked for paying for one’s child’s education. The humor depends on a generational loop: education raises earnings, which then fund more education, so the “profit” is never fully enjoyed as disposable wealth. Implicitly, it comments on parental duty, rising educational costs, and the way social expectations convert personal gains into obligations. The quote also hints that the true value of education may be cultural or familial continuity rather than individual enrichment.