College Rankings 2012: Least Affordable Schools

[Ulrich]

For this year’s college rankings, we considered affordability on a college-by-college basis as a metric of long-term affordability. In other words, the schools that landed atop of our least affordable list may not have the highest sticker price, but when measured through a lens of earning potential as well as the average debt level of graduates, these are the schools where students are least able to shoulder the cost of their degree—and where the education has an uneven record of being a valuable investment relative to other schools.

To compile the list, we considered four factors: debt, total cost, financial aid, and future earnings. Average debt per student and the percent of students that graduate with debt, according to data from College InSight was weighted 25 percent. The total price, including tuition and living expenses, according to data from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), was weighted 25 percent, as was the percentage of full-time students receiving financial aid and the average amount of financial aid (this was a proxy for student wealth and financial need). The last 25 percent of the weighted ranking was based on the starting median salary and mid-career salary from each university, according to PayScale. Public schools with differing in-state and out-of-state total cost statistics were considered twice for this list, once for each level of total cost.

--> College Rankings 2012: Least Affordable Schools - Newsweek

 

[Admin]

Kann man solche Rankings wirklich ernst nehmen? Einfach "average debt levels" und "average earnings" zu rechnen ist ja witzlos. Aber egal ...

 

[Anja1402]

Hi Admin,

my thoughts exacly... mit dieser Kalkulation landen dann auch die Ivy League Schulen prompt bei den Most Affordables. Was ja auch dazu kommt ist, dass auf diese Schulen überwiegend die Kinder der Wohlhabenden gehen und somit Mum & Dad für ein niedriges Debt Level sorgen. Für Kids aus den weniger betuchten Familien geht das nur über Scholarships und student loans. Also ich finde zum Beispiel $ 56,000 pro Jahr nicht sonderlich affordable und blicke mit Grauen auf die Zeit in 3 Jahren, wenn Hubbies Ältester collegereif ist.

 

[Ulrich]

Total Cost und Average Earnings sind fuer mich durchaus relevant. Relativ geringe Tuition + Hohes Gehalt = gut; Hohe Tuition und Hohes Gehalt = kommt drauf an; Hohe Tuition + mittelmaessiges Gehalt = schlecht. Als Faustregel ist das nicht verkehrt; Debt Levels und wieviele Studenten Financial Aid bekommen (und interessant waeren dann auch noch der Prozentsatz von den Total Cost, die diese Finanzhilfen ausmachen) sind dann nur noch eine weitere Gewichtung.

Letztendlich sind absolute Zahlen eigentlich bedeutungslos; man muss dass dann auch in Relation zu den anderen Unis setzen.