Choosing a college comes down to a number of factors, and students and parents would do well to ask key questions when visiting campuses.
PayScale.com lists five key things that should be asked to help keep costs down before choosing a school:
- Will I graduate in four years? This is important because just 41% of college graduate do so in the traditional timeframe.
- Will I lose valuable time if I change my major? Again, earning that degree in four years keeps costs more in control.
- Will I improve my skills in writing, critical thinking and analysis? Will I have the opportunity to work productively and successfully in teams?
- Will I have access to a loyal and supportive alumni network?
- What financial aid and scholarships are available?
Taking the answers to those questions into account – along with academics, available majors and other traditional factors – is a good way to narrow down the choice of a college.
Understanding how well a degree from a particular college will pay you back over time is a good thing to know, too. PayScale has published its annual list of how colleges fare in terms of return on investment.
"For most people, college is one of the largest expenses they'll ever take on, so it makes sense to think about it like any other financial investment," said Aubrey Bach, PayScale's head of alumni analytics, in a press release. "We created the College ROI Report to help students and their families understand the long-term implications of their decisions about school and major."
(Many of these colleges are private schools with hefty price tags; if you can't cough up that much for tuition, check out 13 Public Colleges With the Best ROI: Princeton Review.)
The methodology PayScale used to compare 962 schools in the U.S. includes only data on graduates who earned bachelor's degrees. It calculates 20-year ROI by taking the difference between the 20-year median pay for a 2015 graduate and the 24-year median pay for a 2015 high school graduate, then subtracting the 4-year cost of attending the college.
For most schools, the confidence PayScale has in its calculations is 90%, with an error rate of plus or minus 5% on the 20-year ROI projections.
Here, then, are the 30 Colleges for Best ROI:
29 (tie). RICE UNIVERSITY
Location: Houston
20-Year Net ROI: $701,000
4-Year Cost: $213,000
Typical Years to Graduate: 4
Average Loan Amount: $30,400
29 (tie). RENSSELAER POLYTECHINC INSTITUTE
Location: Troy, New York
20-Year Net ROI: $701,000
4-Year Cost: $243,000
Typical Years to Graduate: 4
Average Loan Amount: $42,800
28. COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
Location: New York City
20-Year Net ROI: $706,000
4-Year Cost: $251,000
Typical Years to Graduate: 4
Average Loan Amount: $31,800
26 (tie). SOUTH DAKOTA SCHOOL OF MINES AND TECHNOLOGY (out of state)
Location: Rapid City
20-Year Net ROI: $708,000
4-Year Cost: $95,700
Typical Years to Graduate: 5
Average Loan Amount: $29,200
26 (tie). NEW JERSEY INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
Location: Newark
20-Year Net ROI: $708,000
4-Year Cost: $126,000
Typical Years to Graduate: 5
Average Loan Amount: $31,900
25. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA (out of state)
Location: Berkeley
20-Year Net ROI: $715,000
4-Year Cost: $225,000
Typical Years to Graduate: 4
Average Loan Amount: $23,300
24. SOUTH DAKOTA SCHOOL OF MINES AND TECHNOLOGY (in state)
Location: Rapid City, South Dakota
20-Year Net ROI: $718,000
4-Year Cost: $85,700
Typical Years to Graduate: 5
Average Loan Amount: $29,200
23. MASSACHUSETTS MARITIME ACADEMY (out of state)
Location: Buzzards Bay
20-Year Net ROI: $728,000
4-Year Cost: $146,000
Typical Years to Graduate: 4
Average Loan Amount: $32,000
22. HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Location: Cambridge, Massachusetts
20-Year Net ROI: $739,000
4-Year Cost: $235,000
Typical Years to Graduate: 4
Average Loan Amount: $20,300
20 (tie). MISSOURI UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Location: Rolla
20-Year Net ROI: $756,000
4-Year Cost: $87,500
Typical Years to Graduate: 5
Average Loan Amount: $27,500
20 (tie). GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY (out of state)
Location: Atlanta
20-Year Net ROI: $756,000
4-Year Cost: $168,000
Typical Years to Graduate: 5
Average Loan Amount: $31,70
19. UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
Location: Philadelphia
20-Year Net ROI: $760,000
4-Year Cost: $243,000
Typical Years to Graduate: 4
Average Loan Amount: $25,400
18. ROSE-HULMAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
Location: Terre Haute, Indiana
20-Year Net ROI: $769,000
4-Year Cost: $225,000
Typical Years to Graduate: 4
Average Loan Amount: $45,500
17. WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE
Location: Worcester, Massachusetts
20-Year Net ROI: $776,000
4-Year Cost: $228,000
Typical Years to Graduate: 4
Average Loan Amount: $43,000
16. STEVENS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
Location: Hoboken, New Jersey
20-Year Net ROI: $781,000
4-Year Cost: $239,000
Typical Years to Graduate: 5
Average Loan Amount: $45,800
15. COLORADO SCHOOL OF MINES (out of state)
Location: Golden
20-Year Net ROI: $783,000
4-Year Cost: $181,000
Typical Years to Graduate: 4
Average Loan Amount: $33,400
14. KETTERING UNIVERSITY
Location: Flint, Michigan
20-Year Net ROI: $785,000
4-Year Cost: $199,000
Typical Years to Graduate: 5
Average Loan Amount: $41,700
13. MASSACHUSETTS MARITIME ACADEMY (in state)
Location: Buzzards Bay
20-Year Net ROI: $787,000
4-Year Cost: $86,900
Typical Years to Graduate: 4
Average Loan Amount: $32,000
12. BABSON COLLEGE
Location: Babson Park, Massachusetts
20-Year Net ROI: $794,000
4-Year Cost: $238,000
Typical Years to Graduate: 4
Average Loan Amount: $30,000
11. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA (in state)
Location: Berkeley
20-Year Net ROI: $806,000
4-Year Cost: $131,000
Typical Years to Graduate: 4
Average Loan Amount: $23,300
10. CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY
Location: Pittsburgh
20-Year Net ROI: $811,00
4-Year Cost: $243,000
Typical Years to Graduate: 4
Average Loan Amount: $31,500
9. PRINCETON UNIVERSITY
Location: Princeton, New Jersey
20-Year Net ROI: $820,000
4-Year Cost: $224,000
Typical Years to Graduate: 4
Average Loan Amount: $14,100
8. GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY (in state)
Location: Atlanta
20-Year Net ROI: $833,000
4-Year Cost: $91,500
Typical Years to Graduate: 5
Average Loan Amount: $31,700
7. COLORADO SCHOOL OF MINES (in state)
Location: Golden
20-Year Net ROI: $846,000
4-Year Cost: $118,000
Typical Years to Graduate: 4
Average Loan Amount: $33,400
6. STANFORD UNIVERSITY
Location: Palo Alto
20-Year Net ROI: $854,000
4-Year Cost: $240,000
Typical Years to Graduate: 4
Average Loan Amount: $29,100
5. SUNY-MARITIME COLLEGE (out of state)
Location: New York City
20-Year Net ROI: $908,000
4-Year Cost: $126,000
Typical Years to Graduate: 5
Average Loan Amount: $32,000
3 (tie). SUNY-MARITIME COLLEGE (in state)
Location: New York City
20-Year Net ROI: $945,000
4-Year Cost: $89,000
Typical Years to Graduate: 5
Average Loan Amount: $32,000
3 (tie). HARVEY MUDD COLLEGE
Location: Claremont, California
20-Year Net ROI: $945,000
4-Year Cost: $249,000
Typical Years to Graduate: 4
Average Loan Amount: $24,400
2. MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
Location: Cambridge
A20-Year Net ROI: $972,000
4-Year Cost: $232,000
Typical Years to Graduate: 4
Average Loan Amount: $32,200
1. CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
Location: Pasadena
20-Year Net ROI: $973,000
4-Year Cost: $230,000
Typical Years to Graduate: 4
Average Loan Amount: $19,000
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