These 25 colleges deliver the most bang for your tuition buck

Welcome to Forbes Edge, your insider’s guide to career and entrepreneurial success, exclusively on LinkedIn. This week, we’ll dive into the world of higher education. Forbes recently published its list of America’s Top Colleges, and we’ve outlined 25 of the best schools to get the most bang for your tuition buck in terms of low student debt and high earnings potential. Then, we’ll give you some tips on how to effectively use your vacation time, and talk about the importance of asking quality questions at work.?

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Success story of the week: 25 colleges that deliver the most bang for your tuition buck

Deciding which college to attend is one of the more difficult decisions many people will make in their lifetimes. A college degree is a big investment—and if a student is going to make that financial investment, they will want to make sure that they will get the most bang for their buck.

Forbes looked at a unique measure from think tank Third Way, which calculates what it calls a price-to-earnings premium. This calculation measures the amount of excess earnings, or the post-graduate earnings boost that alumni receive over a typical high school graduate, that it would take graduates to pay down the average out-of-pocket cost of their degree. Then we narrowed it down even more by seeking out schools where graduates have a lesser student debt burden upon graduation.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Ivy League schools offer some of the best return on investment for students. Graduates at Princeton University—the No. 1 school on Forbes’ 2023 America’s Top Colleges List—could potentially pay for out-of-pocket costs with less than a year of excess earnings. Name recognition and prestige play a role at determining who gets high-paying jobs at top companies, and many recruiters have their eye on Ivy League students first.

Ivy League schools aren’t an option for everyone, however. Thankfully, there are plenty of public schools that deliver value with their degrees. Forbes highlights eight schools in the City University of New York system, as well as liberal arts colleges like Pomona College in Claremont, California and Amherst College in Massachusetts, as institutions where students can graduate with little debt and degrees that can help fetch well-paying jobs.

For California residents, the state college system remains a valuable resource for high-quality degrees. Four of the University of California’s 10 campuses earned a spot in the top 25 of our Top Colleges list. Flagship schools in other states rank highly, but no public university system dominates our list like California’s. Among our top 100 for 2023, 44 schools are public. Remarkably, 12 of those 44 are in the Golden State.

In the wake of the Great Recession, the highly ranked UCs, particularly Berkeley and UCLA, raised admission rates for out-of-state students. Those students pay higher tuition than in-state residents, but still less than the list price on many private colleges.

Success Edge: “Historically, California has been viewed as an alternative to the more rigid social world of the East Coast, and its elite private universities, that has brought talent to UC and to the state,” says John A. Douglass, a senior research fellow on public policy and higher education at Berkeley.?

See the full list of 25 colleges that deliver a high bang for your tuition buck here.

MORE:

• America’s Top Colleges 2023
• How we rank America’s best colleges
• Forbes 2023 College Financial Grades: The nation’s strongest and weakest schools

Driving Success: Why California’s public universities are so good

Tips and strategies: How to take time off from work—and really mean it

Many American workers are terrible at taking time off. From worrying about falling behind on tasks to concerns about their ability to advance in the organization, too many workers put vacation time on the backburner.

That shouldn’t be the case, says productivity consultant and time management coach Rashelle Isip. Relaxing shouldn’t be a luxury, because if you’re exhausted, you can’t serve your clients in the best way possible. But if the idea of taking a trip of time off stresses you out, Isip advises that part of your holiday planning should involve creating a mini-plan for your return. This will ensure that everything doesn’t hit you at once. The mini-plan can involve a short list of items to tackle as soon as your return and setting up meetings in advance of your first days back. This will remove some of the mental burden and allow you to better enjoy your time away.

Read the full story here from Forbes staff writer Kelly Phillips Erb.

Practical advice: Want to stay relevant at work? Ask great questions

A recent study found that nearly half of all employees say they don’t regularly contribute new ideas at work because no one asks them questions. Questions are a great way to make people feel needed and valued in the workplace, which goes a long way to keeping workers motivated.

But the type of questions you ask is incredibly important. Lazy questions that confirm information keep you in the past and have far less impact than open-ended questions that invite exploration and discovery. Becoming more future focused may be as simple as shifting the nature of your question: from “how” or “how much” to “what if” or “what might be.” MIT researcher Hal Gregerson calls these “catalytic questions,” which help us become more innovative—especially as we get better at using AI.

Read the full story here from Ann Kowal Smith for more on the power of asking quality questions.

More:?

• How to answer interview questions about your goals: A guide for candidates
• Sorry for the delayed reply. Sometimes email really is overwhelming
• 5 easy ways to make extra money while working full time

Join us at the 2023 Forbes Under 30 Summit in Cleveland, Ohio on October 8-11 for a world-class experience featuring an amazing concert, incredible programming, impactful thought leadership, numerous networking opportunities and so much more. Secure your seat today!

Thank you for reading! We'll be back next week with another Forbes Edge.?

This edition of Forbes Edge was written and curated by associate editor Chris Dobstaff.