Is College Worth It?

More than ever, students and their parents are asking whether college is worth it. The Wall Street Journal called it “the albatross around their necks,” referring to graduates saddled with debt. But how should the return on investment (ROI) be calculated?

Organizations, such as CEW, The Brookings Institution, Third Way, and Payscale have designed different ways to measure ROI based on information from the U.S. Department of Education's College Scorecard. My startup, Edmit, has helped over 1 million families better evaluate and make smarter college and career decisions.

While research shows disclosure can help to reduce information gaps, it is not sufficient to support college choices. There’s no way around the fact that calculating ROI is complicated, involving numbers and calculations that are not always transparent to families. To aid decision-making, there are an increasing number of resources available for students and parents to understand the value of college and make a more well-informed decision.

I wrote a roundup of the different ways to calculate the ROI of college for Edsurge. You can read it here. As always, I'd love to hear your feedback!