The impact of multiple aspects of college education on measures of earnings, life satisfaction, job satisfaction, and liberalism-conservatism was studied. The college variables examined were college type, field of major, and academic performance. Attention was also directed to the role of income attainment in shaping attitudes, and underlying developmental processes that might link higher education and individual background to each life domain. The following background variables were assessed: parents' education and income, population of home town, and high school grades. Data were obtained from 9,039 respondents who participated in the 1977 followup of the 1970 Cooperative Institutional Research Program. College and individual variables were found to affect earnings attainment and liberalism-conservatism, but did not affect later job and life satisfaction. Being male and majoring in business or engineering were characteristics linked to higher earnings, while being black and coming from a larger city were important determinants of liberalism. In general, better grades were associated with higher income, greater liberalism, and more life and job satisfaction. (SW)