Colleges with Best ROI

[sanantone]

I wish I had this information before or even right after graduating from high school. Unless your family is upper middle class or wealthy (price probably isn't an issue if you're wealthy), you might have a good chance of receiving enough grants and scholarships at an expensive school to make it cheaper than public universities. It depends on the school's endowment. Apply to the best schools you think you can get into and wait for the financial aid package to determine whether or not you can afford a school. 

Don't just take into account tuition and fees. Look at the average salary for graduates of your major. It makes more sense to take out $30k in loans expecting to make $100k a few years after graduating from MIT than it does to take out $15k in loans expecting to make $50k a year a few years after graduating from a lower-ranked university. 

https://www.thinkadvisor.com/2016/04/26/...0517213412

[Life Long Learning]

95% cant get into MIT so not much of an option.  

The hidden gems listed is all of the 6 State Maritime Academies (half listed here) are achievable for students to get into and are the best ROI for the majority.  The 3 Federal Maritimes Academies are a better deal but are harder to get into.  The 6 State academies are the "second tier."  95% of graduates have a job BEFORE graduating making over 75K+  

It's a good list to understand ROI and colleges.  Thanks for posting.

[sanantone]

95% cant get into MIT so not much of an option.  

The hidden gems listed is all of the 6 State Maritime Academies (half listed here) are achievable for students to get into and are the best ROI for the majority.  The 3 Federal Maritimes Academies are a better deal but are harder to get into.  The 6 State academies are the "second tier."  95% of graduates have a job BEFORE graduating making over 75K+  

It's a good list to understand ROI and colleges.  Thanks for posting.

The state maritime academies are a good option if you're interested in one of the limited major offerings. I don't know how the others work, but at Texas A&M, the only way to avoid a military obligation is to choose the merchant marine license option.

[Life Long Learning]

This week I am on Vacation in Maine.  I am completing a certificate program (30-hrs online) and 8-hours in person doing assessments at the Maine Maritime Academy in Castine.  I am doing this as a vacation and certificate program at the same time.


Less than 5% of MMA graduates go into the military (CG and Navy).  Most go into the Merchant Marine, but a growing number of students are doing international business programs as 85% of all World commerce goods are on cargo ships these days.

[Sapientes]

From the full list:
                                                         Early Career Median        Mid-Career Median
Ranking       School                                  (0-5 years)                    (10+ years)

---

422    Thomas Edison State University                   $50,400                                 $90,500
457     Excelsior College                                             $53,800                                 $89,300
604     Western Governors University                        $51,800                                $84,800
917    Charter Oak State College                               $48,000                                 $77,800

[dfrecore]

I wish I had this information before or even right after graduating from high school. Unless your family is upper middle class or wealthy (price probably isn't an issue if you're wealthy), you might have a good chance of receiving enough grants and scholarships at an expensive school to make it cheaper than public universities. It depends on the school's endowment. Apply to the best schools you think you can get into and wait for the financial aid package to determine whether or not you can afford a school. 

Don't just take into account tuition and fees. Look at the average salary for graduates of your major. It makes more sense to take out $30k in loans expecting to make $100k a few years after graduating from MIT than it does to take out $15k in loans expecting to make $50k a year a few years after graduating from a lower-ranked university. 

https://www.thinkadvisor.com/2016/04/26/...0517213412

I am constantly telling kids to look at private schools as well as state schools.  Most private schools can give you money that the state schools can't.  I have 2 friends whose kids are going to private schools for the same exact price that it would cost to go to state schools, including tuition, room and board.  They were able to negotiate prices at the private schools, and one kept going back saying "this is my number one choice, but I just cant afford it, and my parents won't agree to loans."  She is going to Point Loma for $22k/yr (same price as it would cost for a UC).  The other one goes to Grand Canyon University for $12k/yr (same price as it would cost for a CSU).

Keep those private universities on your list, they will work with you as no state school can!

[alexf.1990]

Articles like this are fun to look at, but they're utterly useless to people trying to decide where to attend. Almost nobody pays sticker price at Harvard, MIT, or other private universities with large endowments. There's also the matter of adjusting wages for cost of living, and the large variation in pay between programs, and between individuals. The distribution of their graduates probably skews the data a bit as well. A university that has a higher proportion of STEM graduates would show a higher income than one that focuses on psychology or social sciences.

[sanantone]

Articles like this are fun to look at, but they're utterly useless to people trying to decide where to attend. Almost nobody pays sticker price at Harvard, MIT, or other private universities with large endowments. There's also the matter of adjusting wages for cost of living, and the large variation in pay between programs, and between individuals. The distribution of their graduates probably skews the data a bit as well. A university that has a higher proportion of STEM graduates would show a higher income than one that focuses on psychology or social sciences.

The article gives tuition and average debt. If they only looked at sticker price, I don't think the Ivy Plus schools would make the list.

Certain STEM majors can skew average salaries, but even non-STEM majors from Ivy Plus schools tend to do well. I've seen Harvard history majors go into finance, general business, and IT. The name carries them.

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I wish I had this information before or even right after graduating from high school. Unless your family is upper middle class or wealthy (price probably isn't an issue if you're wealthy), you might have a good chance of receiving enough grants and scholarships at an expensive school to make it cheaper than public universities. It depends on the school's endowment. Apply to the best schools you think you can get into and wait for the financial aid package to determine whether or not you can afford a school. 

Don't just take into account tuition and fees. Look at the average salary for graduates of your major. It makes more sense to take out $30k in loans expecting to make $100k a few years after graduating from MIT than it does to take out $15k in loans expecting to make $50k a year a few years after graduating from a lower-ranked university. 

https://www.thinkadvisor.com/2016/04/26/...0517213412

I am constantly telling kids to look at private schools as well as state schools.  Most private schools can give you money that the state schools can't.  I have 2 friends whose kids are going to private schools for the same exact price that it would cost to go to state schools, including tuition, room and board.  They were able to negotiate prices at the private schools, and one kept going back saying "this is my number one choice, but I just cant afford it, and my parents won't agree to loans."  She is going to Point Loma for $22k/yr (same price as it would cost for a UC).  The other one goes to Grand Canyon University for $12k/yr (same price as it would cost for a CSU).

Keep those private universities on your list, they will work with you as no state school can!

I'm not sure if I would choose Grand Canyon over a CSU.

---

The median salary for Harvard English majors 10 years after graduation is over $100k. History majors who become business consultants make six figures.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB121746658635199271

[alexf.1990]

The article gives tuition and average debt. If they only looked at sticker price, I don't think the Ivy Plus schools would make the list.

Certain STEM majors can skew average salaries, but even non-STEM majors from Ivy Plus schools tend to do well. I've seen Harvard history majors go into finance, general business, and IT. The name carries them.

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The average debt for all of the listed universities is between $20-45k. The "cost" to the student doesn't appear to be much different between any of the universities. It's silly to argue that attending Kettering University will yield a better ROI than Harvard when the debt loads from attending ar are the same.
The way they calculate the cost is also ludicrous. They calculate the opportunity cost of attending university at the rate of income the graduate receives. If the student has not yet graduated, then the opportunity cost of attending each university is the same.
ROI is a very easy thing to measure when it comes to universities. If you're measuring by the percentage, an alternative route like WGU or one of the big three will always offer the best return. If you're looking at net ROI, then the top tier colleges will always offer a higher return. Even if you pay $150,000 more for a Harvard degree, that cost is easily recouped with higher career earnings.

[sanantone]

The article gives tuition and average debt. If they only looked at sticker price, I don't think the Ivy Plus schools would make the list.

Certain STEM majors can skew average salaries, but even non-STEM majors from Ivy Plus schools tend to do well. I've seen Harvard history majors go into finance, general business, and IT. The name carries them.

---

The average debt for all of the listed universities is between $20-45k. The "cost" to the student doesn't appear to be much different between any of the universities. It's silly to argue that attending Kettering University will yield a better ROI than Harvard when the debt loads from attending ar are the same.
The way they calculate the cost is also ludicrous. They calculate the opportunity cost of attending university at the rate of income the graduate receives. If the student has not yet graduated, then the opportunity cost of attending each university is the same.
ROI is a very easy thing to measure when it comes to universities. If you're measuring by the percentage, an alternative route like WGU or one of the big three will always offer the best return. If you're looking at net ROI, then the top tier colleges will always offer a higher return. Even if you pay $150,000 more for a Harvard degree, that cost is easily recouped with higher career earnings.

I don't think it's hard to believe since Kettering is primarily a STEM and business institution. Among non-PhD-granting insitutions, they're ranked pretty high. Other than a business administration program, all of their undergraduate programs are in STEM, so their starting salaries are going to be higher than an institution that has a lot of non-STEM majors. However, things equal out a bit among the elite schools when it comes to mid-career salaries. 

https://www.kettering.edu/programs-and-degrees