Tag: return on investment


New tool helps measure the value of your college degree

Posted on April 1st, 2015

When giving advice to students and families about choosing a college and determining how to pay for it, we tell them to look at the return on investment (ROI) of the degree.

The College Considerator is a new tool makes that even easier, by measuring the value of the student’s potential degree. This can help families and students figure out whether it’s worth paying for the college of their choice.

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Pressure for prestige has made college admissions a circus

Posted on March 26th, 2015

Applying to and getting into college puts enormous pressure on students and families. Many students believe they need to get into the “best” (highest-ranked) college possible in order to have a chance at getting a good job after college.

Particularly among the wealthy, there’s often competition between parents as their children apply to the same prestigious colleges, Robert Reich writes in a recent piece for Slate.

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The best college values under $30,000/year

Posted on December 19th, 2014

With the cost of college topping $60,000 at some schools, it may seem impossible for regular families to afford higher education.

But there are still plenty of quality colleges for half the cost. Kiplinger recently released a list of the best value colleges that still cost under $30,000 per year, all of which provide a great bang for your tuition buck.

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The Highest & Lowest Paying Majors By Starting Salary

Posted on November 30th, 2014

While we believe you should major in a subject you enjoy because you’ll do better if you’re interested in the material, there’s no denying that some college majors pay better than others–usually because students in these positions gain more specialized, in-demand knowledge.

According to a new study from Michigan State University, electrical engineering majors have the highest starting salaries out of college, with the average graduate making $57,030 in the first year.

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Calculating the value of college majors

Posted on November 24th, 2014

We’ve expressed that the value of your college degree is influenced heavily by several factors, including choice of major and how much debt you take on to pay for it.

And now a new calculator from The Hamilton Project makes it easier for college-bound students to understand how much their degrees will cost them over time depending on major, student loan debt, interest rates, and term of the loan.

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The real student debt problem

Posted on November 18th, 2014

"People focus on the undergraduates, because there are more of them and they’re younger and more naïve. They aren’t really paying attention to graduate students, but graduate students are really stacking up substantial student-loan debt." -- Jon Marcus

When most people talk about student debt, they talk about it in terms of undergraduates. Indeed, undergraduate student debt remains a real issue, with the average graduate leaving college with $29,000 in student loans. But according to Time Magazine, there’s an even bigger problem that’s not frequently talked about in the media: graduate student debt. […]

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Evaluate return on investment when choosing a college

Posted on November 3rd, 2014

"Parents realize the economy hasn't changed much in the past six years, and they're shopping for college like they would any other major product. This isn't an emotional transaction anymore." -- CFG Co-founder Andy Leardini

With the cost of college rising, more parents are beginning to look at the return on investment of where they send their children to college and evaluating whether schools are worth their high costs. As College Financing Group co-founder Andy Leardini told Buffalo Business First in a recent article, the college decision has become like […]

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CFG founders give advice to families paying for college

Posted on October 8th, 2014

"You need to treat choosing a college like a business transaction, not an emotional transaction." -- CFG Co-founder Andy Leardini

As parents of college-bound students know, applying to college is more than a financial decision–it’s an emotional one as well. Our founders Rick Ross and Andy Leardini recently appeared on Winging it! Buffalo Style to discuss the challenges families and students face when choosing a college and figuring out how to pay for it. Taking the emotion […]

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The economic value of college majors

Posted on September 12th, 2014

"Today’s college students, then, need to choose a major that maximizes their chances of graduating, and minimizes their chances of ending up in that bottom 25 percent, where they would have been better off skipping college, at least financially." -- Ben Casselman

While the return on value of a college degree is at an all-time high, according to a recent analysis by FiveThirtyEight, not all degrees are created equal. As we’ve written, the return on investment of a college degree depends on many factors, including the field of study, student’s debt level, and what the graduate does with […]

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Underemployment in America

Posted on September 4th, 2014

According to a recent PayScale survey, of 68,000 workers, 43% of Americans feel underemployed in their jobs.

As we recently reported, the worker’s choice of college major is a factor in feeling underemployed. Healthcare and Business majors were among the top majors listed by underemployed workers.

This infographic from PayScale presents a broader look at underemployment in America–including the jobs in which workers feel most underemployed and the ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ job skills employers most value.

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