daly went on to earn a high school equivalency diploma (ged). she received a bachelor's degree from the university of missouri-kansas city in 1985 and a master's degree from the university of illinois urbana-champaign in 1987. she went on to earn a ph.d in economics from the maxwell school at syracuse university in 1994. she also completed a post-doctoral fellowship at national institute of aging at northwestern university in 1996.