Undergraduate Education Ranks 180th, 207th for Return on Investment

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 UPDATED 4:40 p.m. 

An online salary, benefits and compensation information company released a list that ranks universities across the country by the return students get on the price of their education, and it has placed George Mason University behind many universities in the region.

The PayScale.com list ranked Mason 180th for in-state and 207th for out-of-state. The rankings were based on undergraduate students who graduated in four to six years and lived in on-campus housing.

According to Payscale.com, George Mason University ranks 180th in return on investment (ROI) for in-state undergraduate students 30 years after graduation. These students have paid an average of $80,020 and receive a 30-year median return of $551,400, which calculates as an 11.7 percent annual return on investment. For out-of-state undergraduate students, Mason ranks 207th in ROI with an average cost of $141,700, a 30-year median return of $513,800 and an annual ROI of 9.8 percent.

Compared to other universities in the region, Mason ranked lower than most of the major universities.

The 30-year ROI is the potential median earnings of a 2009 graduate, minus the cost of the university (including tuition, fees, room and board) and minus the potential median earnings of a high school graduate over 34 to 36 years.

The annual ROI serves as an indication of the pay-off of a degree relative to the cost of the degree at a particular college.

Mason in-state students, with an annual ROI of 11.7 percent, have a decent payback on their investment. For comparison, MIT (ranked first) offers a 12.6 percent annual ROI. University of Virginia (ranked 38th) offers a 14.1 percent annual ROI, one of the three highest annual ROIs. A college with a 4.3 percent or lower annual ROI earns less on your education than putting your tuition in a 30-year Treasury Bond and working out of high school.

Here’s the breakdown of how universities in the area ranked with the average cost/the 30-year return on investment.
 

Payscale.com used preexisting analysis of costs and earnings of university graduates and their own polls to determine the total cost for students, potential return on those costs in 30 years and annual returns. The site did not count students who went on to a higher level degree or worked part-time, were self-employed or contracted work.

To see the full list of Payscale.com rankings, click here.

According to the company’s methodology page for the package, all data used to produce the ROI Package were collected from employees who “successfully completed PayScale’s employee survey.”

The same company ranked Mason as one of the Top Southern Colleges by salary potential.