FOR ALL THE TALK about outrageous tuition costs and zillionaire dropouts, a college education is still one of the best investments most people could make.
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York estimates that a bachelor of arts degree typically increases a student’s earning capacity by about $300,000 (in today’s dollars) over his or her working life.
That is simply an average. But as with just about any other investment, results aren’t guaranteed. Much depends on the student, of course, but colleges also vary widely in their outcomes. An analysis by the salary comparison site PayScale. com found that the alumni of some poor-performing private and public colleges earned so little that they would have done better, financially speaking, by skipping …show more content…
The website CollegeResults.org has four-, five-, and six- year graduation rates for most colleges.
Small classes. Research by Gallup found that successful adults were more likely to say they’d had personal interactions with their college professors.
So, as a general rule, the higher the percentage of classes with no more than
20 students, the better. You can find those numbers on CollegeData.com.
Good student fit. This one’s a little harder to quantify, but Gallup also found that adults who are thriving professionally and personally tended to be deeply involved in college activities, such as a sport or club. Campus visits and chats with current students are some of the best ways for students to find out if a school offers the kinds of extracurricular opportunities they’re looking for and whether they feel they’d fit in there.
2. Affordability
Fortunately, most students, even from relatively affluent families, don’t pay the high sticker prices that colleges publish on their websites. Data from the National Association of College and University Business Officers …show more content…
But how much of that is due to the students’ innate ability and socioeconomic backgrounds and how much to the school itself? Our analysis attempts to tease that out by holding constant the types of kids who go to each college.
In the end, financial issues should be just one part of a family’s college selection decision. The best college for any student will not only be one that the family can afford, but one that inspires an enthusiasm for learning that will help the student to adapt to evolving job requirements, new technologies, and the vicissitudes of life.
Kim Clark, a senior writer for Money magazine, has covered higher education for more than a decade. She reports on the latest college news and trends at the
Money College Planner website, money.com/colleges.
Copyright of Journal of Financial Planning is the property of Financial Planning Association and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder 's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York estimates that a bachelor of arts degree typically increases a student’s earning capacity by about $300,000 (in today’s dollars) over his or her working life.
That is simply an average. But as with just about any other investment, results aren’t guaranteed. Much depends on the student, of course, but colleges also vary widely in their outcomes. An analysis by the salary comparison site PayScale. com found that the alumni of some poor-performing private and public colleges earned so little that they would have done better, financially speaking, by skipping …show more content…
The website CollegeResults.org has four-, five-, and six- year graduation rates for most colleges.
Small classes. Research by Gallup found that successful adults were more likely to say they’d had personal interactions with their college professors.
So, as a general rule, the higher the percentage of classes with no more than
20 students, the better. You can find those numbers on CollegeData.com.
Good student fit. This one’s a little harder to quantify, but Gallup also found that adults who are thriving professionally and personally tended to be deeply involved in college activities, such as a sport or club. Campus visits and chats with current students are some of the best ways for students to find out if a school offers the kinds of extracurricular opportunities they’re looking for and whether they feel they’d fit in there.
2. Affordability
Fortunately, most students, even from relatively affluent families, don’t pay the high sticker prices that colleges publish on their websites. Data from the National Association of College and University Business Officers …show more content…
But how much of that is due to the students’ innate ability and socioeconomic backgrounds and how much to the school itself? Our analysis attempts to tease that out by holding constant the types of kids who go to each college.
In the end, financial issues should be just one part of a family’s college selection decision. The best college for any student will not only be one that the family can afford, but one that inspires an enthusiasm for learning that will help the student to adapt to evolving job requirements, new technologies, and the vicissitudes of life.
Kim Clark, a senior writer for Money magazine, has covered higher education for more than a decade. She reports on the latest college news and trends at the
Money College Planner website, money.com/colleges.
Copyright of Journal of Financial Planning is the property of Financial Planning Association and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder 's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual