Many parents have adopted an “Ivy or Bust” mentality when it comes to thinking about college — and they might be on to something.
A Bloomberg News analysis of more than 1,500 nonprofit four-year colleges shows the typical 10-year return on investment of the eight Ivy League institutions is $265,500.
That’s almost double the return of so-called “Hidden Ivies” — a list of 63 top private colleges — and nearly three times the median of all colleges analyzed.
The analysis — which relied on ROI calculations provided by Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce — doesn’t include the outcomes of students who paid out of pocket. But if you are one of the lucky few who got admitted to an Ivy League institution and you received some financial aid — chances are your degree will pay off.
CEW’s calculations, which examine the net present value of the typical graduate’s earnings 10 years after enrollment minus the average price paid after aid packages, show the typical Ivy graduate earns $90,500 a year compared $72,600 at a Hidden Ivy. And that’s after they paid about 18% less than Hidden Ivy students — demonstrating the power of the Ivies’ billion-dollar endowments that allow for greater institutional aid packages at a time when the cost of attendance is beginning to top $90,000 a year.
Below is the ROI, net price and median earnings of the eight Ivies, according to Georgetown’s CEW.
Princeton University
ROI: $340,000
Net Price: $9,836 a year
Median Earnings: $95,689
University of Pennsylvania
ROI: $280,000
Net Price: $25,046
Median Earnings: $103,246
Harvard University
ROI: $275,000
Net Price: $13,872
Median Earnings: $84,918
Yale University
ROI: $267,000
Net Price: $15,296
Median Earnings: $88,655
Columbia University
ROI: $264,000
Net Price: $22,823
Median Earnings: $89,871
Cornell University
ROI: $190,000
Net Price: $37,042
Median Earnings: $91,176
Dartmouth College
ROI: $183,000
Net Price: $32,410
Median Earnings: $91,627
Brown University
ROI: $172,000
Net Price: $29,544
Median Earnings: $78,943
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.