Student loan debt is on many people’s minds in 2019. A recent Time report cited the jaw-dropping figure of $1.5 trillion as the amount of money currently owed on student loans—and whether you see this as evidence of a problematic industry or a means by which a nation’s spending capability is curtailed, it’s alarmed figures from across the political spectrum. Student loan debt has emerged as a key issue in the ongoing Democratic primary race as well.
Now, one ambitious person has taken a host of economic data and tuition information and calculated the nation’s colleges that offer the best return on investment.
On Reddit, a user by the name of -Newfangled- created an extensive and informative chart using data from PayScale. The methodology behind calculating the ROI was simple, as Digg’s article puts it: “median earnings minus the cost for college over the following 20 years.”
What are some of the lessons learned from this chart? Overall, public colleges offer many of the same benefits as their private counterparts, and military academies rank incredibly well.
The absolute best bang for you buck comes from the military academies — for the grand old price of 0 dollars (and, it’s worth noting, several years of your life in service), the Coast Guard, Naval, Air Force and Military academies all offer high ROIs, with the Military Academy one of only three institutions to break the $1 million ROI mark (along with the SUNY Maritime College and MIT).
The entire chart makes for fascinating reading, as does Digg’s informative summary on it.
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