More and more parents are questioning the return on investment of a college education these days. Deep down we may feel that spending more will provide a greater level of confidence that your child's future will be secure. But is it really the right path to follow? Here are some things to consider:
- There may be some expensive colleges that will provide your student with strong professional networks and brand recognition, but that is absolutely no guarantee of an overall positive financial return. So, it's crucial you should consider what your child's field of interest is when making that decision. For example, programs in the arts and psychology at an expensive private school are likely to offer a negative return on investment over a lifetime
- The choice of major clearly has an impact on future earning and career opportunities. Fields such as finance, computer science, and engineering generally offer higher returns regardless of the school attended. So, the choice of major may be more important than the choice of which college.
- To get a better indicator of the actual cost of either a private or public university, it's important to do your homework by using tools like net price calculators available on each college’s website. This is important because over 85% of students don't pay the sticker price for college[1], so you want to make sure that you’re looking at the estimated net price when making your decision.
- I know it's easy to focus on dollars, but college provides more than financial benefits. Critical thinking and social skills, as well as personal growth are valuable no matter which career you pursue.
- As of today, college graduates generally have better job security and are less likely to be unemployed.[2] It's hard to say whether that's going to continually be the case in the future, or whether corporate America is going to put a greater emphasis on specialized certificate type training.
In summary, it's definitely not a “cheaper is always better” decision. But it should be a well thought out decision based on solid financial reasoning rather than just perceived value of well-known brand names.
[1] https://educationdata.org/financial-aid-statistics
[2] https://www.umassglobal.edu/news-and-events/blog/how-college-impacts-salary-and-future-earning-potential
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