PayScale, a Seattle-based company collects wage information to calculate 30-year net return in investment for college education. According to the recent research, graduates of top schools will earn $1 million more than a typical high school grad. Average 30-year net return on investment for 554 schools is pegged at 9 percent. Only 88 schools had an ROI that topped that total return for the S&P 500 (11.1%) over the same period (The corresponding returns for gold and 30-year treasuries were 2.6% and 4%, respectively).
Schools with the best 30-year net ROI over wages earned by a typical high school graduate:
School Total Cost ROI
1. MIT $189,300 $1,688,000
2. California Inst. of Tech. $181,100 $1,644,000
3. Harvard $189,600 $1,631,000
4. Harvey Mudd $187,700 $1,627,000
5. Dartmouth $188,400 $1,587,000
6. Stanford $191,800 $1,565,000
7. Princeton $187,700 $1,517,000
8. Yale $194,200 $1,392,000
9. Notre Dame $181,900 $1,384,000
10. Univ. of Pennsylvania $191,300 $1,361,000
Source: "College Degrees Get an Audit." Bloomberg Businessweek, June 28 – July 4, 2010