Posted on 07/10/2010 11:49:54 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
For students and their parents, it's an important question and one that has been devilishly difficult to answer—until now.
PayScale, which collects pay information from individuals using its online pay comparison tools, dug into its trove of 1.4 million reports on U.S. college graduates for Bloomberg/BusinessWeek.
CLICK ON ABOVE LINK FOR TABLE OF COLLEGES AND WHAT GRADUATES ARE WORTH AFTER GRADUATION.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessweek.com ...
This report only covers financial return. There are other returns, such as intrinsic rewards from new skills learned such as basket weaving, ornamental horticulture, joint rolling, etc., which should not be overlooked.
What about the ability to read Latin and Greek? There is not much of a market for that, but you can study the ideas of the wisest and best thinkers.
I see three things missing from this analysis.
1. Compare ROI vs if they had invested this money in a conservative investment vs the expense
2. Inflation, Future Dollars won’t be worth as much as today’s dollars. This needs to be normalized.
3. Cost of Money. If the school is paid on Student Loans, there is an interest rate. The most expensive schools almost always involve some sort of student loan. This needs to come out of the ROI.
I have run some rough calculations an if my math is right some of these actually loose money.
Taking MIT for instance for a student loan, over 30 years you would pay an additional $254,568.76
If invested in a conservative investment you would have had an ending balance of $627,245.17.
Today’s Dollars vs future dollars: $189,000 is worth $398,900.99 30 years from now. And this is only 2.5% inflation (not likely under Obamacare)
I like this information, I just wish it was more complete and had better analysis.
A BSc degree in mathematics and computer science took me off the back of a seismic boat in the Gulf of Mexico working 84 hour weeks and into R&D software engineering in the seismic industry making over 5 times what I had been making. It was very much worth it.
its not worth anything to dem’s
your race, gender, or lack of known gender is worth more than all your college
Methodology: The study, by PayScale, uses pay reports from 1.4 million graduates from U.S. colleges and universities supplied through online pay comparison tools in the past year. The study used pay reports from only full-time U.S. employees with bachelors degrees and no advanced degrees, and pay reports averaged about 1,000 for each of the 554 schools in the study.
To calculate the 30-year net return on investment on a college degree from each school, PayScale first combined the median cash compensation (salary and bonus) for graduates for each of the past 30 years.
It then calculated the cost of the degree (excluding financial aid awards) by combining tuition and fees, room and board, and books and supplies for the number of years it takes most students to graduate from each school. From the compensation figure, it subtracted the cost of the degree and the estimated median pay for a hypothetical graduate for the same period plus an additional 4 to 6 years representing the time he or she would have spent in school.
The resulting figure, in 2010 dollars, incorporates the school’s six-year graduation rate, so that a school where graduates have a net return of $2 million over 30 years and where the graduation rate is 50 percent will have an overall net return of $1 million. Annualized ROI includes annual wage inflation of 4.3 percent per year. Net return and annualized ROI for state schools were calculated twice, using college costs for in-state and out-of-state students, and are listed separately in the table. Data on school type, graduation rates, and total cost were supplied by the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System.
Here are some of the online calculators I used:
1. http://www.math.com/students/calculators/source/compound.htm for savings est
2. http://www.finaid.org/calculators/scripts/loanpayments.cgi for calculation of the student loans
3. http://www.halfhill.com/inflation.html for the inflation calculations
One other thing I need to say too. These are average ROI. They should have a stdev and let you know the statistical low and high in their calculations.
You could have a billionaire in this average and a homeless person as well. Averages for decision making are very biased and can’t be used for such a large decision.
Because we use averages. You have a 50:50 chance of getting something more or less than the value stated.
Why you are dealing with chance on the ROI side, the cost side of the equation is absolute. There isn’t a doubt about the cost side, just the return side.
So you need to consider this and not look at this as a guaranteed pay day.
You may find at the end of the day, that sending your child to a foreign college or to trade school will be a better investment with hard returns that you can count on.
My degree in theology taught me to think logically, tolerate those blasted catholics (ended up marrying one) and paying for it myself taught me thrift and the value of investing for my future.
My degree in math gained me a place on the corporate job ladder that eventually paid me a six figure income. This made possible the next step in my life:
My career in the historical field, also paid for by myself, has found me professionally studying world war ii, my lifelong passion. And being called “doctor” is cool.
They only got this right “The resulting figure, in 2010 dollars, incorporates the school’s six-year graduation rate, so that a school where graduates have a net return of $2 million over 30 years and where the graduation rate is 50 percent will have an overall net return of $1 million.” and misses all the other points I made.
I would love to have their data so I could do it right.
I’ve studied many of the ideas of the wisest and best thinkers, but fortunately, those works had been translated into English. :O)
you forgot skirt chasing and responsibility avoidance.
That is a great success, congrats.
I am glad it worked out so well for you. I am sure in the process you saw many examples of failure around you.
How many of the people that graduated with you landed a job in something related to their degree?
My understanding that it is less than 50% currently with this economy. The only one that was nearly 100% was accounting.
I know there is data online, but wanted to get your perspective from your experience in Central South.
That is a great debate/discussion to be had - that is - a liberal art study versus technical study. I think the whole college/universty educational process is about to be turned on its head which will result in many more choosing to go to regional schools for two years before heading to university. It will reduce the cost and create a more positive student experience.
That is a great debate/discussion to be had - that is - a liberal art study versus technical study. I think the whole college/university educational process is about to be turned on its head which will result in many more choosing to go to regional schools for two years before heading to university. It will reduce the cost and create a more positive student experience.
This is gonna leave a mark on some arrogant Texas Longhorns.
Whoop!
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What’s Your College Degree Worth?
Thanks to Odumba$$, my degree and work experience has been worth $0 for the last eight months.
My schools are not on the list or I could not find them. Florida Sate University is my Bachelors Degree and George Washington University is my Master’s Degree. I mean George Washington isn’t chump change now is it? lol.
Sorry about that. I pray that you get something soon.
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