According to a new report from Andrew Dugan at Gallup, going to college later won’t hurt your potential for earning a higher income.

Graduating College Later in Life Doesn’t Hamper Income

Despite delaying their college education, nontraditional college graduates — defined here as those who earn their degree at age 25 or older — have personal incomes later in life that are similar to those of traditional graduates, or those who earn their degree before age 25.

This study is based on surveys with nearly 4,000 nontraditional college graduates and approximately 7,500 traditional college graduates who earned their degree between 1990 and 2014.

Currently, the average age of a traditional graduate who earned his or her degree between 1990 and 2014 is 33 years, compared with 45 years for nontraditional graduates. This may suggest that nontraditional graduates are “paying” for delaying their education because, all things being equal, older individuals would expect to out-earn their younger counterparts, not tie with them. But, of course, all things are not equal — and it is likely that many of these nontraditional graduates, had they not gone back to college, would be earning much less than traditional college graduates.

Overall, these data suggest that individuals who graduate college around the same time but at different ages are currently faring equally well in terms of personal income. Still, traditional graduates likely enjoy higher lifetime earnings because they reap the economic benefits of a college degree for a longer period of time. But in terms of current income, the two groups are equal.