Is a college degree a good ROI?

One of the reasons Columbia University can claim that poverty among young children was at 45% during the Obama years is that pesky threshold the academics and bureaucrats say is needed to support a family. Let's say you've dumped the kids' deadbeat dad, finished college and gone on for your dream degree--a Master's in Library Science (today the degree title may use the word information or technology, but you know what I mean). You've got debt, but everyone says a college degree is the ticket to the middle class. $32-$35,000 isn't terrific, but not unusual for a beginning MLS degree in a small city, and it varies state to state, but so does the poverty threshold. Probably the para-professionals in the library who've been working 20 years earn more, but you'll have that pride of possession and benefits that far exceed the private sector. According to our government, that salary is low income, and you'll need at least $50,000 in a medium sized Ohio city to climb out of that category. 

The largest number of children in low income households are white, but the highest percentage are minority (36% white; 29% Asian; 69% black). The fact sheet I'm reading (Basic Facts about Low-Income Children: Children under 3 Years, 2015) does mention education and jobs to climb out of the low income category, but ignores marriage.

If you try to work the internet on ROI for a college degree, you get--guess what--articles written by academics urging you to take on a 4 year college cost of $140,000.  And why not?  They need to keep those seats filled in college xyz.