One of the core reasons people want to go to college, according to NYTimes best-selling author Ron Leiber in his book “What You Pay For College” is financial. When you pay for college, you are buying (or think you are buying) “future money”.
Well, there is a fascinating new tool that Bloomberg just came out with looking at the actual financial return on investment of America’s colleges and universities:
One of the tool’s findings is the severe drop off in ROI once you fall outside of those top 25 colleges and universities, even among the Ivy League - esque schools like the NESCAC (Tufts, Amherst, Williams, Hamilton, Colby, Bowdoin, Wesleyan, Trinity, Middlebury) and some of the Patriot League schools as well.
MIT seems to be the best bet for private school ROI, while Georgia Tech has the best ratio of low tuition to high ROI on income
Ultimately, college and university need to have some sort of demonstrable ROI. While playing time is great, and playing for a great program helps, families would do well to really look hard at the economic outcomes from the colleges and universities recruiting them as well.
MIT isn’t winning a national title anytime soon and going up to FBS P4 football, but - if you’re just going off these charts - it certainly may help you live a more economically stable and secure life.
What’s your take?
Coach Cahill