Best colleges for the price
As we start wrapping up the current school year, rising seniors will look forward to (or put off) filling out college applications this fall. And while choosing the right education has layers and layers of variables, Bloomberg’s Best Colleges for Return on Investment is, at the very least, thought-provoking.
The best return on investment for Georgia? Georgia Tech, at $79,140 total cost for in-state education and $157,600 out-of-state.
Bear in mind that this article focuses on how much money a graduate will make for the amount spent. It doesn’t take into account where family allegiances lie, what your family can actually afford or which colleges are geographically desirable for your student.
It also means you might not see colleges mentioned with excellent degrees in traditionally lower-paying professions. If you’re a follow-your-passion kind of person, the (financial) return on investment won’t mean much to you.
Which schools do you think have the best ROI? What are the important factors in your student’s college decision?
– By Lauren Davidson, Atlanta Bargain Hunter
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172 comments Add your comment
JM
April 13th, 2011
2:29 pm
Ga Tech has always been an excellent value. Congrats to all the professors and staff that make it happen!
CorporateAmerica
April 13th, 2011
2:33 pm
I recruit at all of the local universities that have business programs; mainly UGA, Georgia State, Kennesaw State and Auburn. We have been so pleased with our hires out of Kennesaw State and Georgia State that we have focused our recruiting out of these schools. When these students graduate, their maturity levels are much higher than the typical UGA grad; odds are, they’ve held down a job while making great grades and being good citizens of their campus (very involved). They have learned the same material that the UGA student has in the same time frame.
Bonita
April 13th, 2011
2:36 pm
The University of West Georgia in Carrollton should have topped this list. Tuition is lower than a snake’s belly and educational quality ranks up there with the best of them.
UWG — Go West and Go Wolves
F-Tech
April 13th, 2011
2:38 pm
Georgia Tech fan/student/alum: “To Hell with Georgia!!!!”
The same Georgia Tech fan/student alum: “Why do Georgia fans/students/alums not respect us??”
Nerds!!
Jacketman
April 13th, 2011
2:41 pm
Is ‘how much money you make’ really the only criteria for measuring the worth of a man or woman? I’m a Tech man myself, but I know a lot of great UGA (and even high school) grads who are making real contributions to mankind. Kind of sad that the world only keeps score based on income tax filings and property values.
B Regarded
April 13th, 2011
2:44 pm
If we don’t watch it, there will be no Americans at Georgia Tech….I went to the graduation and there were lots of asians and indians but hardly any whites and virtually no blacks. We are giving out best education to foreigners.
KEO
April 13th, 2011
2:50 pm
As a 1991 Tech Alum I would like to echo what we chanted anytime UGA students came on campus for a game….”You’ll work for us!”
Doug
April 13th, 2011
2:54 pm
Hey Duke grad, My daughter is at Duke, and I am very proud they are near the top of the list. I am a Tech Grad, and I agree that most colleges in NC are better than the ones here, but NCSU and Georgia Tech are not in the same league in any comparison. And Georgia Tech is the much better school in any ranking (in academics). But ASU, ECU, UNC-W, any of the smaller NC state schools are much better than the equivalent universities here in Georgia, and UNC is certainly better than UGA, unless you are getting your education in football.
Clover Wainscott
April 13th, 2011
2:57 pm
Anecdotally speaking, engineers are usually the people who were too dumb to become doctors and too socially awkward to work in finance.
South GA
April 13th, 2011
2:59 pm
Being from the Atlanta area, and having grown-up in Georgia my entire life, you have to appreciate the good ole Georgia/Georgia Tech rivalry. However, when choosing a place for higher education, I chose a school in a quaint southern town where I could work with my professors on a personal level. Valdosta State University was just the right size, with great programs, an incredible student life environment and at one heck of a deal. Compared to Georgia Tech, VSU is definitely a different type of school, but nonetheless I received a superb education and got a great job after graduation!
dawgdays
April 13th, 2011
3:10 pm
I hear that you can make a decent living as a lawyer, doctor, accountant, actuary and other UGA degrees. If you want to be an english teacher are you really going to Yech? That is just pa’tech’ic!
If my child wants to be an engineer, go to GT. If you don’t want to be an engineer, don’t go!
TECH4EVER
April 13th, 2011
3:17 pm
If you want to learn how to make an honest living and have people all over the world recognize your degree and the institution it came from – go to Tech. If you want to party at the institution recognized as the No. 1 party school in the nation go to the cess pool A.k.a. UGA
To Hell with Georgia!!!
Fraud Alert
April 13th, 2011
3:23 pm
The post by CorporateAmerica @ 2:33 pm is bogus.
ack
April 13th, 2011
3:35 pm
“How did that tricky math question of yours went?”
I don’t know; how did that GT English class “went”?
Loser.
Mishap
April 13th, 2011
3:38 pm
B Regarded,
As an Atlanta born US citizen(Crawford Long/Emory) of Chinese descent, I don’t know if you can generalize the citizenship of a student based on their appearance or their name. According to the GT factbook, out of ~13,000+ undergrads, under 900 were from another country. The # of international grad students is far higher but most of them are otherwise unemployable in the US and honestly if we employ them here, they do a lot more for our economy than if we let them get educated abroad and competing against us. Remember the combined population of India/China is nearing 3B. Assuming 0.1% of them are of genius intelligence and that’s 3M people that we honestly should steal to our side of the global economy. Chances are they aren’t going to be welfare kings/queens.
The Orginal WDE
April 13th, 2011
3:57 pm
haha, the UGA buffoons are out in full force.
You can’t leave a sports rivalry at the door, can you? Yall talk about how Tech is obsessed with you, but you’re on hear b**** about why GT sucks despite beating you very objectively in what counts- academic and professional success.
I’ll be honest, I respect UGA as a school. But when I got out of college, all the good jobs were pretty much us and Emory kids in the final round interviews.
DevilsAvocado
April 14th, 2011
11:59 am
Enter your comments here
Some of the commeters have said that there are no pretty girls on the GT campus. Well, I have just moved here in March and work on the Tech campus and I can say that there are definitely very pretty girls on the Tech campus – and they are smart too! Which is even better.
Being new to the area, I have a question for the locals: Was there a large influx of Wisconsinites to the Atlanta area at some time in the past? Was there a forced relocation, like the the Cajuns finding their way to Louisiana after being evicted from Acadia by the British. Who forced these Cheesheads down here? They appear to keep up their Cheeshead traditions, (just as the Cajuns have kept French alive in southern Louisiana), most notably putting Green Bay Packers ‘G’ logos on the front of their trucks. I’ve noticed that they change the Packers’ logo to a black logo, presumably in mourning concerning their relocation. Does anyone know of the forced relocation of Packers fans to Georgia, and can enlighten me, being new to Atlanta, about this historic event?
YALE ALUM
April 14th, 2011
3:04 pm
All of you petty UGA vs. GT folks are pathetic.
*nose in air*
war eagle 1981
April 14th, 2011
3:06 pm
LOL @ techies and dawgies arguing over whose athletics. BOTH football teams SUCK so what difference does it make?
Here's the actual rankings
April 19th, 2011
2:06 pm
The numbers are National ranks for return of investment; if there are two numbers the first will be for in state tuition costs, the second for out of state
23/29 GT
101 EMORY
203/257 UGA
540/620 GA STATE
549/573 SOUTHERN POLYTECHNIC STATE
635 MERCER
652 MOREHOUSE
691/742 NORTH GC&SU
725779 GEORGIA SOUTHERN
774/827 KENNESAW STATE
849/880 COLUMBUS STATE
857/905 GCSU
858/884 ARMSTRONG ATLANTIC STATE
954/991 VALDOSTA STATE
982 SCAD
1021/1028 AUGUSTA STATE
1025 CLARK ATLANTA
Nativeson71
April 20th, 2011
7:40 am
Georgia Perimeter is CHEAP & GOOD!
Same books, same courses, etc etc etc as UGA, GA State or ANY school part of the ‘Universtity System of GA.’
GSU Grad
April 20th, 2011
8:45 am
What’s absolutely hilarious about these type of blog discussions is the abundance of anecdotal evidence to support childish claims of superiority.
As a 35-year old manager, I can attest that it comes down to individual as the best indicator for success.
In 2009, my company reached out to the two top Engineering institutions in the state (GT and SPSU) to provide a front-end model to review construction costs for proposed multifamily projects. When we met with GT professors they provided very little in terms of practical application and were going to rely mostly on theory. SPSU’s professors provided so many elements including interactive models, sustainability analysis and quantifiable data. In the end, my company saved over $14 million after going with SPSU’s model.
Does this mean that GT’s engineering school is outdated and provides very little value in terms of real world education. No, it simply means that SPSU’s model was a more appropriate fit for our company. Also, our Director of Architecture is a GT grad.