Ranking finds Penn returns on investment

Students strapped for cash may be pleased to know that investing in a Penn education could reap strong returns — according to a recent PayScale ranking.

Penn was tenth in a ranking of U.S. colleges’ and universities’ annual return on investment for graduates with bachelor’s degrees. Graduates with higher degrees were excluded from the calculation, according to PayScale, an online company which collects salary information from employees.

Penn students’ total cost for four years comes to around $191,300 on average but graduates see median earnings of $1,361,000 in 2010 dollars thirty years after graduation, according to PayScale.

This is an annual ROI of 11.8 percent, placing the University fifth among the Ivies in terms of ROI. MIT topped the list with an annual ROI of 12.6%.

Penn’s 30 Year ROI was more than double that of nearby schools such as Pennsylvania State University, Saint Joseph’s University and Temple University.

The University’s position toward the top of the list is not surprising, according to Director of Career Services Patricia Rose.

“Penn students are well-prepared for today’s workplace and do well not just at graduation but in the years following. We survey alumni five, 10 and 15 years out and Penn alumni are doing well across schools and across career fields,” she said.

“While an interesting snapshot, and I am delighted that Penn shows up at the top, it is only so useful because so many of our students are ambitious and choose to pursue an advanced degree,” Rose continued.

Approximately two-thirds of Penn graduates ultimately receive a graduate degree, according to Rose.

Joan Koven, an independent education consultant, acknowledged the helpfulness of the list but stresses the financial benefit of a college education at any institution.

“I think it’s just another list, and everyone loves lists and rankings and admissions. Folks love that they can say [they have a good ranking],” said Koven, who is the founder and director of Havertown, Pa.-based Academic Access.

She added, “If I look at this list it sort of jumps off the page to me that all these school on these lists or most of the top fifteen have engineering programs.”

As an example she pointed specifically to number 13 on the list, Union College — one of a few small liberal arts schools that offer degrees in engineering.

“It seems there is a ranking for just about everything these days,” University spokeswoman Lori Doyle wrote in an e-mail. “That’s one reason we don’t take any of the rankings too seriously. That said, we’re glad to see that Penn ranked well.”

Megha Kosaraju, sophomore in the College, thinks that the rankings will have minimal effects on feelings of current students and alumni, especially with regard to school spirit. “Alumni feel like they need to give back to the place that nurtured them for so long and no matter what college you go to, you have a sense of commitment and allegiance,” Kosaraju wrote in an email.

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