Choosing a college comes down to a number of factors, and students and parents would do well to ask key questions when visiting campuses.
See also: 30 colleges for the worst ROI: 2016
PayScale.com lists five key things that should be asked to help keep costs down before choosing a school:
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- 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 factor — is a good way to narrow down the choice of a college.
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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."
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…
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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
Rice University, seen here, was established in 1912. (Photo: ThinkAdvisor)
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
Columbia University, seen here, was originally called King's College and then Columbia College. (Photo: ThinkAdvisor)
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
The NJIT campus is within walking distance of downtown Newark, New Jersey. (Photo: ThinkAdvisor)
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
Founded in 1885, The South Dakota School of Mines and Technology is often referred to as "SDSM&T," "Tech" or "Mines." (Photo: sdsmt.edu)
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. 22. HARVARD UNIVERSITY
22. 22. HARVARD UNIVERSITYLocation: Cambridge, Massachusetts
20-Year Net ROI: $739,000
4-Year Cost: $235,000
Typical Years to Graduate: 4
Average Loan Amount: $20,300
Law students at Harvard wave their gavels as they're being conferred with their degrees. (Photo: AP Images)
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
Dr. George Simpson, Chancellor of Georgia Institute of Technology, places the hood of the honorary doctorate of engineering over President Jimmy Carter's head on Feb. 20, 1979. Tech's President Joseph Pettit is on the right. (AP Photo)
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
In this file photo from 2007, Stacey Otts, a senior at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, studies in one of the school's chemistry labs. (AP Photo/Joseph C. Garza)
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
Javier Fernandez, left, and Deanna Wetmore hold a rope as they help a crew flying a hot air balloon draped with the colors of the U.S. flag at Stevens Institute of Technology in honor of the Fourth of July holiday in 2012. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
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
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
In this photo from 1997, Kettering University student Mike Urbanczyk, 22, practices using a remote control pad to operate a robotic arm attached with an automobile painting air brush.(AP Photo/Tom Pidgeon)
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
Bertarelli Foundation Co-Chair Dona Bertarelli and Babson President Kerry Healey at signing establishing Bertarelli Foundation Distinguished Professor of Family Entrepreneurship at Babson College (PRNewsFoto/Babson College)
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
Leila Wehbe, a Ph.D. student at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, talks about an experiment that used brain scans made in this brain-scanning MRI machine on campus. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)
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
The Carnegie Building, constructed in 1907, is located in the Historic District of the Georgia Institute of Technology's Central Campus. It was originally the campus library, and it now houses the President's office. (Photo: Wikipedia Commons)
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, California
20-Year Net ROI: $854,000
4-Year Cost: $240,000
Typical Years to Graduate: 4
Average Loan Amount: $29,100
Stanford was founded in 1885 by Leland Stanford, former Governor of and U.S. Senator from California and railroad tycoon, and his wife, Jane Lathrop Stanford, in memory of their only child, Leland Stanford Jr., who had died of typhoid fever at age 15. (Photo: iStock)
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
United States astronaut Scott Kelly is among the notable alums from SUNY Maritime College. (Photo: Wikipedia Commons)
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
MIT alumni boast considerable success in scientific research, public service, education and business. (Photo: iStock)
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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