Return on Investment: Does Your School Make the Cut?

By Eric Shomo on October 9, 2012

Have you ever wondered whether or not the money you spent on something was a wise investment?  Well, you can determine that by what you get in return for making that investment in the first place.  For example, you parents might have bought you a bunch of toys when you were younger and you didn’t even touch them – not once.  Your parents did not get a very good return on their investment because they spent money that went to waste.  Maybe you bought a $50 ticket to go see Kid Cudi live in concert and it was one of the most fun nights you have ever had.  Your happiness was worth the $50 investment.  Or maybe you bought certain stocks and over a couple of years you made thousands of dollars.  Now think about your college investment.

You may not have paid for your own college tuition (or if you did, God bless you), but you most certainly did make the decision of which college to attend.  With the job market continuing to dwindle and competition increasing, the question you have to ask yourself is “Is my college or university going to get me a job?” If so, how little time does it take on average?  The concept of return on investment when talking about college tuition stretches far beyond getting a job, though.  Return on investment has a lot to do with how much money you might make in a particular time period as a result of the investment you made.  So a question you will want to ask is, “How much money does the average student from my school make immediately after graduation?  It might also be critical to find out how much money can be made over ‘X’ amount of years.

Of course, several factors come into play, such as the facilities that provide the students with tools to succeed, professors who teach students about a particular subject, and the students themselves, who, with the determination to succeed, can combine their acquisition of knowledge and implementation of the tools they are given (and obviously your parents will want credit, too, so go ahead and give them the satisfaction).  All of these factors play a vital role in your investment (this happens to include room and board and meals if you want to talk specifics), and also plays a part in what happens after the investment is complete – that’s what determines your return.

When it is all said and done, the money might be worth it – or it might not be.  But what return on investment teaches us is something pretty invaluable.  When your investment is made, you can’t take it back.  However, the return you get on that investment is a good indicator of whether or not you will make the investment again or recommend it to someone else.  Essentially, return on investment tells us which products or services dominate in the market and are most beneficial to us.  So when you put a price tag on something as valuable as a college education, you might want to know if your college or university makes the cut in terms of helping you get your money back.  Find out at http://www.payscale.com/college-education-value.

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