College Return on Investment

[CharlesAznable]

Tableau Public

public.tableau.com

Stumbled across this cool tool, which plots the US colleges by the cost vs ROI (which I believe is calculated as the average income above someone with only a diploma for a 20 year period).

What the graph looks like should really surprise anyone. Unless you can get into an Ivy League tier school, there's virtually no reason to go any university outside of your state school (unless you're in one the few states with a really shitty systems)

There are some surprising findings though. Like apparently everyone should be going to a maritime college.

So era, how well did you school rank?

 

[ElectricBlanketFire]

I'm a Communications major from a no name private university in Indiana so...

lulz

 

[T0M]

1600+? Bullshit my school is NOT $91k for 4 years.

Also got a degree in CS. Hopefully I can get to 6 figures in a few years.

 

[SteveWinwood]

damn, apparently should have gone to the merchant marine academy

 

[Cation]

What is going on with the US Merchant Marine Academy? Wildly better than the rest...

 

[Swig]

Western Governors University is in the list, but not on the chart, as far as I can tell. Weird.

 

[CharlesAznable]

Western Governors University is in the list, but not on the chart, as far as I can tell. Weird.

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Here's where the data is sourced from https://www.payscale.com/college-roi

Looks they haven't made the roi calculations for that school.

 

[turbobrick]

1600+? Bullshit my school is NOT $91k for 4 years.

Also got a degree in CS. Hopefully I can get to 6 figures in a few years.

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I don't know where they got those prices. It says my school is $100k for 4 years in state, which is like double what it actually costs.

Though same I also got a CS degree so I'm hoping it will pay off, but still no job yet. :(

 

[Deleted member 2802]

damn, apparently should have gone to the merchant marine academy

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WTF are they teaching there?

It trains officers to serve in United States Merchant Marine, branches of the military, and the transportation industry. Midshipmen (as students at the academy are called) are trained in different fields such as marine engineering, navigation, ship's administration, maritime law, personnel management, international law, customs, and many other subjects important to the task of running a large ship.

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[Lace]

According to this my college was low cost and high return. Based on my personal experience I can confirm this.

 

[nightstalker962]

Colorado School of Mines?
SUNY Maritime College?

Lol, this is suspect as hell.

 

[tokkun]

Colorado School of Mines?
SUNY Maritime College?

Lol, this is suspect as hell.

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Jobs that require technical degrees and require you to live on-site somewhere isolated from society usually make bank.

I remember attending some job fair and being pitched on being a petroleum engineer on an oil derrick. If you can put up with it for 5-10 years, you are pretty much set for the rest of your life.

 

[ajszenk]

I work financial aid for a major university and I spend most of my day this time of year telling 18 year olds from out of state to not come here because tuition isn't worth it for an undergrad degree

 

[skeptem]

1600+? Bullshit my school is NOT $91k for 4 years.

Also got a degree in CS. Hopefully I can get to 6 figures in a few years.

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Yup. Mine was a state school. Tuition in state was 6-8k a semester. It said something like 90k for 4 years.

 

[Ferrio]

My university (University of Alaska, Fairbanks) is one of the best in that chart.

ROI: 500k
Tuition: 70k

 

[GangWarily]

I got a psych degree for undergrad that got me nowhere. Was thinking switching into occupational psychology when I was like "Well if Im going to grad school, do I want to continue putting money into this field?" and switched to software engineering.

 

[StarStorm]

They list my school at 91k too for tuition. No way its that high. ROI at 401k.

 

[simmins]

My school did not do well (State University), which does not surprise me. I am an exception to the rule then. I graduated a little less than a year ago and I am already making 6 figures (IT). I graduated with 64k in debt, which is not the 90k it claims for in-state. I am going to get a good ROI, but I got INSANLY lucky to get my current position.

 

[ElNino]

1600+? Bullshit my school is NOT $91k for 4 years.

Also got a degree in CS. Hopefully I can get to 6 figures in a few years.

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That depends more on where you work and what field rather than what your degree is. Speaking as someone with a CS degree in Fintech who has never made a six figure salary in more than 15 years, but I do with overtime via 24x7 support.

 

[Aztechnology]

Is this accounting for benefits, options and other things often higher tier positions account for? Because base salary hardly tells the whole story. That's a huge problem with wealth. A lot of it isn't just pure cash.

 

[PanickyFool]

Out of State, University of Arkansas, got better welfare than I ever got in NYC, cheap cost of living allowed NY wife and I to support feed ourselves and my son on minimum wage and student loans, now I am on my yacht.

Woo-fucking-pig.

 

[Alcoremortis]

Is this additive or multiplicative between multiple degrees? I already spent ten years making almost nothing on a PhD, so I need to know how much I'm expected to make in the next ten years to make up the difference.

 

[Damaniel]

Of the top 5 schools, at least 3 are maritime colleges (Merchant Marines, Naval Academy, SUNY Maritime College). What about marine jobs makes them worth so much?

Also, I'm not surprised a Mississippi university is dead last. All that money for negative return.

 

[grand]

Originally Published: Jan 22, 2018
Last Updated: Jan 21, 2021
Workbook Details: 1 Sheet
Metadata: 2018 College Return on Investment

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Let me more than slightly sus on this data

It's also highly unlikely that the 2018 data is all encompassing either, since most people would never detail their finances to this level, and especially not on a college to college scope.

 

[Johann Mistletoe]

For those wondering about maritime academies— Marine shipping jobs pay extremely well, and those companies are always looking to hire, specifically from these schools. Many students have jobs lined up before they graduate after making connections at career fairs and/or internships. Downside is the schools tend to be predominately straight white male and have a regimented structure of rules (uniforms, hair cuts, marching, saluting) so you don't get the same college experience as you would elsewhere. Shipping jobs also mean months at sea, so you'll make great money, but you won't be seeing your friends and family for long stretches of time.

Other majors that aren't shipping (like facilities engineering, business, environmental) also have tons of companies or organizations looking directly to these schools, but it's the shipping jobs that tend to be the most lucrative and skew the numbers.

 

[Deleted member 8118]

Chart is bullshit.

 

[sprsk]

The ROI for the cheapass Tennessee in-state college I went to, vs the mega expensive private college my little sister went to in Miami have basically the same ROI, so feelin' pretty good about that. (Ignore the fact she's going to be a lawyer and I write stupid jokes for video games)