New College Rankings Measure Student's Return on Educational Investment

CHICAGO, Oct. 24, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Degreechoices has released a new college ranking methodology that reveals universities' relative economic value for students.

In consultation with Third Way's Michael Itzkowitz, the educational research organization used data from IPEDS and College Scorecard to rank over 2,000 schools by two parameters: 

Payback – Degreechoices used Third Way's price-to-earnings premium to assess how long it takes students to earn back their total investment in education.

Earningsplus – The earnings of students at each school were benchmarked against the weighted average for other students in the state. 

These factors generate an Economic Score used to rank schools by their state and in dozens of other categories.  

Graduate programs are ranked similarly: the debt-to-earnings ratio of each master's program is adjusted using an Earningsplus calculation, which creates an Economic Score. Thousands of programs across multiple fields of study have already been ranked.  

College is often a huge financial investment. Using Third Way's price-to-earnings premium in the Degreechoices ranking calculations helps clarify which schools and degrees pay off more than others. - Michael Itzkowitz

What makes these rankings noteworthy, writes President Emeritus of Missouri State University Michael Nietzel, is that the "top 25 list [includes] 13 public universities…far greater than the number that make other popular rankings like U.S. News, Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education, or Forbes." 

One example is the CUNY group of colleges, whose affordability earned them a high score in several categories. "We are extremely proud that CUNY outperforms many of the nation's leading universities: we deliver a top-notch education that leads to successful careers," said Chancellor Rodríguez.

Likewise, Mori Hosseini, Chair of UF's Board of Trustees, stated: "This excellent news is no surprise…UF students get an incredible return on their investment and go on to have highly successful careers." 

There is rising demand for an objective college ranking system based on economic return relying solely on government data. 

In early September, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona referred to the prevailing college ranking methodology – released annually by U.S. News & World Report – as "a joke" for focusing on colleges' prestige rather than ROI. And Columbia University was yet another school that admitted to submitting inflated data to artificially their boost U.S. News rankings. 

Carly Brown
+1 708 628 5776
[email protected]

SOURCE Degreechoices.com