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Round-up: Private Nonprofit Colleges Give Students the Highest Long-Term Value, Report Finds

November 14, 2019

The report, A First Try at ROI: Ranking 4,500 Colleges, uses expanded College Scorecard data to calculate the net present value of a credential from 4,500 colleges, including traditional two-year and four-year public and private colleges, as well as for-profit colleges and training academies. CEW also developed an online table of the 4,500 colleges that allows users to sort data on tuition, median student debt, and median earnings for each institution.
 
Of the 10 colleges with the best long-term net economic gain, all are four-year institutions, and eight are private nonprofit institutions. Meanwhile, colleges that predominantly offer certificates or associate’s degrees have the highest return on investment 10 years after enrollment. Returns on investment from bachelor’s degrees eventually overtake returns from most two-year credentials. For example, Babson College, a private college in Massachusetts, ranks 304th in net present value at the 10-year horizon, but ranks seventh at the 40-year horizon.
 
Key Findings:
  • Ten years after enrollment, the median net present value for all colleges is $107,000; measured at the 40-year horizon, that number rises to $723,000.
  • Colleges that primarily award associate’s degrees have the highest short-term return, a median of $141,000 10 years after enrollment.
  • In the long term, the net economic gains for attending a private for-profit college are $551,000, compared to $838,000 for a private nonprofit college and $765,000 for a public college.
  • The institutions with the lowest long-term economic value range from theological institutions to beauty schools to colleges specializing in the arts.
 
Below is a round-up of today’s media coverage of the report.
 
Private Nonprofit Colleges Give Students the Highest Long-Term Value, Report Finds
Education Dive (November 14, 2019)
 
Return on Students' Investments Varies Over Time
Inside Higher Ed (November 14, 2019)
 
Is College Worth It? A Georgetown Study Measures Return on Investment — With Some Surprising Results.
The Washington Post (November 14, 2019)
 
A New Study Calculates Return on Investment — 40 Years After Enrollment. Here’s What We Learned.
The Chronicle of Higher Education (November 14, 2019)
 
Private Colleges Provide Higher Financial Returns than Public Colleges 40 Years after Enrollment, New Georgetown University Report Says
Yahoo Finance.com (November 14, 2019)
 

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