Skip to main content
. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2016 Sep 22.
Published in final edited form as: Child Youth Serv Rev. 2009 Oct 31;32(8):1121–1131. doi: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2009.10.017

Table 5. Economic Costs and Benefits for Alternative Investments in Children and Youth in 2002 dollars.

Program
and source		 Per
Participant
Cost ($)		 Estimated
Benefits ($)		 Benefit-
Cost
Ratio
High/Scope Perry Preschool
(Barnett, 1996)		 15,844 138,486 8.74
Child-Parent Center Preschool Program
(Reynolds et al., 2002)		 7,384 52,722 7.14
Child-Parent Center Extended Program
(Pk-3) (Reynolds et al., 2002)		 4,478 27,361 6.11
Abecedarian Project
(Masse & Barnett, 2002)		 35,864 135,546 3.78
Women, Infants, and Children
(WIC, Avruch & Cackley, 1995)		 958 2,941 3.07
Tennessee STAR class size
reduction in K-3
(Krueger, 2003)		 8,454 23,913 2.83
Child-Parent Center school-age
program (Reynolds et al., 2002)		 3,290 5,457 1.66
Grade retention (Temple et al. 2004) 7,959 −26,434 −3.32

Note. Values were converted to 2002 dollars using the Consumer Price Index. Costs for WIC are for 2 years of services. In the other programs, costs are for the average length of participation. CPC Extended Program (P-3) findings are relative to less extensive program participation (0 to 3 years).