There is no earnings advantage to attending a sandstone university compared with less prestigious institutions, a major economic study has found.

The latest Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey found graduates from the elite Group of Eight universities earn no more on average than those who attended regional universities and less than those attending other universities. The controversial finding has been disputed by the Group of Eight universities, which tend to require higher entrance scores and perform better on international rankings.

The HILDA survey found that, when controlled for cognitive ability, there is a 10 per cent earnings premium for attending a technical university such as the University of Technology, Sydney or Melbourne's RMIT University compared with Group of Eight universities such as the University of Sydney or Melbourne.

There was an even bigger 15 per cent earnings premium for attending a university that is part of the group known as Innovative Research Universities, such as La Trobe University or Griffith University, compared with the Group of Eight, the survey found.