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Union, RPI rank high on education value.
by Caitlin Tremblay, Daily Gazette (Schenectady, NY), 30 June 2010, p. A5
The article reports that that two local colleges (Union College and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute) “are listed among New York state’s and the nation’s best colleges for making back the money spent on a bachelor degree, according to a study by the website PayScale.com …Payscale, a compensation research website, took the price of the schools’ degree and compared it to the average income of graduates to calculate a ‘return on investment.’ Only those with undergraduate degrees and full-time hourly or salaried jobs were included…Topping Payscale’s list are Massachusetts Institute of Technology (annual ROI of 12.6 percent), California Institute of Technology (12.6 percent) and Harvard University (12.5 percent).”
The website Paycale.com (which also explains the methodology) asserts that “A return on investment (ROI) calculation tells you what you get back for what you spend - and it's a great way to compare college costs…PayScale helps you figure out which school's tuition costs will return the biggest dividends for you after graduation.”
Discussion Questions
With the help of the Payscale.com website methodology description:
- Critique, from a statistical perspective, the use of the results of this study in comparing colleges with regard to assessing “what you get back for what you spend.”
- How might the validity of such a study be improved and, if implemented, how would this impact any reservations you might have about the conclusions that you might draw?
- Comment on any other aspects of the underlying methodology and how it might be improved.
Submitted by Gerry Hahn