College degree may be key to billionaire status

Students in Elsie Diaz's fifth-grade class at O'Plaine School in Gurnee asked: "How do you become a billionaire in 10 days?"

Even in these tough economic times, there still are people who have amassed vast amounts of money, even billions of dollars. The world's richest people, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, saw drops in their income, but their wealth still totals more than $37 billion each. Neither became wealthy in 10 days.

"Bill Gates gained billionaire status by developing a product that many, many people find very useful. Sam Walton's family and the Walmart fortune was made by a business model, and Warren Buffett, owner of investment company Berkshire Hathaway, spent a lifetime investing," said Michael Miller, economics professor at DePaul University.

The more than 750 billionaires throughout the world don't seem to have much in common. Some people inherited their wealth and others made fortunes in real estate, entertainment and business ventures. While many live in the United States, many others live in Russia, the Middle East and other parts of the globe. Many billionaires have advanced college degrees.

While you may not have an opportunity to become a billionaire in 10 days, 10 years, or 100 years, you have a 500 percent chance of increasing your income when you earn and advanced college degree. According to infoplease.com, in 2006 people with less than a 9th grade education had average incomes of $22,000, annually whereas people with doctorate degrees made and average of $100,000 each year.