Study: Georgia Tech, UGA offer best salary returns on tuition
Tech cheerleaders ride the Rambling Wreck onto Grant Field (Associated Press)
Georgia Tech offers “the best academic deal in America” when it comes to which colleges and universities help graduates reel in the biggest paychecks considering the tuition they had to fork over, according to to SmartMoney.
In fact, Georgia has two schools in the Top 5: The University of Georgia ranks No. 4, behind Tech, the University of Florida (2) and the University of Texas at Austin (3). (See complete table here – pdf). From SmartMoney:
Recent Georgia Tech grads earn $59,000, or a stellar 67% of what they paid in tuition. Grads in their 30s average $102,000 a year, more than three times their 1990s tuition tab.
President G.P. Peterson credits the focus of virtually all Tech students on science-oriented disciplines, including engineering and computer and software design, and Tech’s “fortunate position” of being able to get tuition subsidies from the state thanks to the HOPE scholarship. It also helps that the hottest careers are currently in the technology industry.
SmartMoney, with the help of Seattle-based compensation data company PayScale, relied on 35 million salary profiles to come up with median pay figures for two groups of alumni at each of the Top 50 most expensive schools on the list. One group was the Class of 2009 and the other was the Class of 1997, who were now getting mid-career salaries.
The median salary was divided by total tuition and fees for each of the four-year periods. The result was converted to a percentage figure, and the outcome was a measure of return on investment, or a “Payback Score”.
Tech’s Class of 2009, who paid $87,810 for four years of college, had a median salary of $59,000 today. The Class of 1997, who paid $30,249 for four years of college, had a median salary of $102,000 today.
Georgia’s Class of 2009, whose members paid $77,957 for four years of college, have a median salary of $41,100 today. The Class of 1997, whose members paid $27,865 for four years of college, have a median salary of $79,200.
The thousands more in tuition paid by private college school graduates also didn’t translate into a much higher salary return when compared with the pay public college graduates were seeing. The study found the average salary for the public college Class of 2009 was $47,790, compared with $46,024 for their private liberal arts counterparts. The salary was $87,257 for the public college Class of 1997, compared with $91,019 for their private school counterparts. From SmartMoney:
By their mid-30s, alumni of the 21 private liberal-arts schools we surveyed are pulling down only about 4% more than their public school peers, despite having spent almost twice as much on tuition (assuming they paid the sticker price).
What kind of return are you getting on your college investment as you glance at your paycheck?
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164 comments Add your comment
UGA Class of 2015
September 25th, 2012
9:49 pm
GT Joe, you’re very emotional. Do you attend college at all? Stand down. Accept it; you’re a LOSER.
Fact Check
September 25th, 2012
9:52 pm
To all the UGA grads who keep saying how much better UGA’s B-School is…
2012 Undergrad B-School Rankings
#37 – Georgia Tech
#50 – UGA
Go Jackets!
GT Joe
September 25th, 2012
9:56 pm
Great post class of 2015. Chock full of facts. my guess is your SAT was below the UGA average of 1273.
UGA Class of 2015
September 25th, 2012
10:01 pm
With students like GT Joe, we need to ensure to keep weapons off the Tech campus.
joe in tucker
September 25th, 2012
10:02 pm
one nephew @ Tech, a niece @ UGA and one on the way to Tech!! great! they will be able to take care of dear old uncle joe in a couple of years!! lol
Omar Little
September 25th, 2012
10:04 pm
UGA’s endowment isn’t even over $1B? Hahahahaha.
Jenny W.
September 25th, 2012
10:06 pm
UGA is a great school and will soon be a public Ivy like UCLA, Berkeley, UVA, and Michigan. My niece turned down Vanderbilt and Cornell to attend UGA.
PalmettoMD
September 25th, 2012
10:07 pm
How much was Issah Crowell’s return on investment
GT Joe
September 25th, 2012
10:09 pm
damn your niece is dumb. She’ll fit in well at UGA.
Then again, UGA for free vs. $200k somewhere else is a tough call.
Public Ivy? If that ever existed, GTwould be there waiting.
PalmettoMD
September 25th, 2012
10:12 pm
“UGA is a great school and will soon be a public Ivy like UCLA, Berkeley, UVA, and Michigan. My niece turned down Vanderbilt and Cornell to attend UGA.”
I don’t see that being a great argument. I turned down Notre Dame, Duke, and gasp a big schollie offer from Ga Tech to attend Clemson. I think this just means there are Ivy :eague level students that attend the school but the school itself is not Ivy League b/c of that. That being said Ga Tech and UGA are both great schools that focus on very different areas of study. At least Georgia has 2 prestigious public universities unlike SC that has 1.
RAD
September 25th, 2012
10:13 pm
Walton High School Grad told to go home and think about it from Georgia Southern College – thought about it – went to work 150k- 2011.
The Factor
September 25th, 2012
10:17 pm
@GT Joe,
You are a pinhead and my guess about 5′4″ to 5′ 6″ with a big Napolean complex. To all others, both schools are terrific. Go Dawgs! Go Jackets!
Stumpknocker
September 25th, 2012
10:22 pm
There you go again (Proud UGA Grad) So UGA grads grow up to run places like the Smithsonian, Westinghouse , Wal-Mart and so on…….How many UGA grads are astronauts?…….Didn’t think so……..but I hear you have some damn good poultry science grads and leisure arts majors and housing grads and magazine (what evers).
The Factor
September 25th, 2012
10:26 pm
I went to Valdosta State and have averaged $150k+ for years (with highs over $200K). It isn’t the shingle, it’s what you can do with it. For most, it only opens doors, after that experience and hard work carries the day.
Just asking a question
September 25th, 2012
10:39 pm
Question – I thought UGA and GT had the same tuition and fees, why are they different? Both of these numbers seem to be the out of state costs which would make the publics of each state and even better return compared to privates.
Who Cares?
September 25th, 2012
10:44 pm
For what it’s worth, my daughter applied to both UGA and Georgia Tech for this current year. She was accepted at both schools. UGA accepted her in their “Honors” program, while Georgia Tech didn’t. She chose Georgia Tech.
Buzzzed
September 25th, 2012
11:01 pm
The bigger story here isn’t that tuition for public universities tripled in 12 years?
List Mama » Tech, UGA offer best salary returns on tuition – Atlanta Journal Constitution (blog)
September 25th, 2012
11:07 pm
[...] Atlanta Journal Constitution (blog) [...]
Man Boobs
September 25th, 2012
11:08 pm
@ The Factor: Good call on GT Joe. He has always been a clown. He’s on here stating that Tech football players are smarter than UGA players. I wonder if they are going over algorithms to see if they can even get bowl eligible this year. Let’s see if he can figure out these simple numbers…….
31-17
10 of 11
62-37-5
or I just guess he is currently stuck on 2-2 or would that be 0-2 in the ACC. It must be really difficult knowing that you are so much smarter that those teams whipping up on you.
Steve
September 25th, 2012
11:09 pm
I’m just jealous of Tech students. Being gay is tough in today’s world. I love watching our offensive linemen marching in those tight pants. Go Dawgs!
Vote for Pedro
September 25th, 2012
11:11 pm
How can this be true? A single UGA football player will earn as much in the NFL as an entire graduating class of Tech nerds! The statisticians must have excluded the outliers… since Tech has no outliers… just a bunch of engineers.
AppleCEO
September 25th, 2012
11:16 pm
Thuga has the same academics and professors as pre-hope. Not impressed. AU has more CEOs of fortune 500 companies than thuga. Tech a cut above thuga. Not complicated…..
JetBuzz (GT IE '80)
September 25th, 2012
11:36 pm
My freshman son’s choice was identical to your daughter’s choice, “Who Cares?”. All A’s K-12 with 9-12 IB/AP. Accepted UGA “Honors College”, GT, and UVA. Chose GT Bio-Med Engineering, ranked #2 nationally behind Johns-Hopkins. All great schools (for serious students). Certainly a wider academic-demographic at UGA, but the Hope has helped as a great recruiting tool.
Humpy
September 25th, 2012
11:41 pm
To: Not stupid, easy. Regarding the Neanderthal athletes…I understand that NOT ONE starting football player at GT is enrolled in engineering classes? DUH…why is that? Guess they have basket weaving equivalency classes at GT too.
JM
September 25th, 2012
11:44 pm
@Petro:
Who just got the biggest contract in NFL history? His name was Calvin something; can’t quite remember where he went to school…
Tom in Marietta
September 26th, 2012
12:26 am
UGA Grad 1989 – $165 plus car, insurance, gas, and a fun job. Sleep late, entertain late into the night, free stuff including season tickets (Falcons and UGA) and I didn’t really go to college…I went to Georgia. Go Dawgs!
2008 UGA Grad
September 26th, 2012
12:31 am
TECH GRADS are trained to get a high-paying job for a graduate, sit in their cubicles and work at that job for infinity. With that, they think they’ve arrived. Nothing can inspire them to do more because that’s the type people they are. They ARE BORN FOLLOWERS. UGA grads are trained to be visionaries and see that there’s more to be accomplished in the world. Those are the type people who make it to “leader.” Because of these philosophies, I’m leaving a lot of Tech people who graduated the same year as me and started out making a higher salary than me in the dust.
Ironic
September 26th, 2012
12:42 am
Ironic that a thread about how great our schools are can spawn a comment section that immediately makes your question it.
Ironic
September 26th, 2012
12:43 am
Also ironic that I misspelled a word in the context of my post. FML
ignition
September 26th, 2012
1:16 am
This doesn’t make since..
Public schools like MIT, Cal, UCLA are below UGA ?? GTFOH
Don Pablo
September 26th, 2012
4:42 am
I went to Mercer University, which is a Private Liberal Arts School and I finished in 1996. I amcurrently pulling down a meager $217K a year.It probably helps that my location has a stronger job market though. Not bad in my opinion for a $51K investment. And did I mention I didn’t get financial aide.
Don Pablo
September 26th, 2012
4:54 am
While I didn’t go to a public school. I’m sure my 1480 out of 1600 SAT score at the time would have gotten me into GT… Smart parents don’t let their kids go to UGA. Go GT…
Hugh Jass
September 26th, 2012
6:44 am
I am a UGA grad and I work with UGA grads and we all make way more than this.
reality check
September 26th, 2012
7:21 am
@confused…What you have observed is undoubtedly true, even though on average it is somewhat more difficult to get into Tech. The thing that is happening at UGA and other southern state flagship schools is that they are accepting out of state students with lesser qualifications than students from their own states so that they can collect out of state tuition.
The percentage of out of state (and foreign) students is much higher at tech so they are not as quota driven on Georgia students.
I know this may be hard to believe but it is the ugly truth. To me as a Georgia taxpayer it really ticks me off.
Hey, Proud UGA Grad
September 26th, 2012
7:24 am
Put your salary up against Southern Company’s CEO. Owned again…
B'more Jacket
September 26th, 2012
7:31 am
I am a Tech graduate and I am doing just fine such that I am able to make the tuition payments for my son at Harvard. (Note: My son was accepted to the Honors program at UGA and took a visit and thought it was a joke.)
It is not all about the money or football however. There are many Tech and UGA grads who could stand to broaden their Red State perspective. I would suggest seeing the world and making the world a better place. If you are interested in doing more than making money, join a Habitat for Humanity Global Village build.
http://www.habitat.org/gv/
Reggie Ball
September 26th, 2012
7:34 am
I gots my degree from tech, now i can count to 4
Jack Sprat
September 26th, 2012
8:02 am
Are these salary figures self-reported? Where do the numbers come from? How ACCURATE is this data? Does it come from ONLY those alumni who report their salaries to the schools? Or, does each school track the IRS returns of its alumni? Explain please!
Humpy
September 26th, 2012
8:10 am
To JM: Johnson got the big old contract because he was catching passes from a UGA grad (the lead DAWG). You had to know that was coming.
Humpy
September 26th, 2012
8:18 am
During the 2006 summer, Johnson, who majored in management with a background in building construction, was given the option of working on either constructing environmentally friendly luxury condos, or a project building solar latrines to improve sanitation in Bolivia.[15][16] Johnson chose the latter, as he wanted to help the less fortunate.[17] The “solar latrines” use the sun’s rays to safely transform bacteria-laden waste into fertilizer.
This was taken from Wikipedia. Seriously? He needed to go to GT to learn to do this. WOW an engineering degree to build condos and outhouses? So impressed.
Georgia Schools Offer Best Return on Tuition | Georgia Technology News
September 26th, 2012
8:23 am
[...] class of 2009, who paid $77,957 for four years of college, have a median salary of $41,100 today. Read the full article here. This entry was posted in Education, News and tagged Athens, Atlanta, Georgia, Georgia Tech, [...]
Steve
September 26th, 2012
8:24 am
No doubt that Tech wins in academics versus UGA, but with that said, I can tell you my Ph.D. from UGA has helped me earn a big salary and I beleive other UGA post-graduates would say the same.
Tech Student
September 26th, 2012
8:26 am
Critical Reading – Public schools also offer tons of grant money. I’m a current student and can vouch that this is at least true for GT. I receive >5,000 in grants every year without even applying for them.
Where did you go to school?
Steve
September 26th, 2012
8:29 am
And for those of you who cannot understand why schools like MIT and others are below UGA, please read the article again. The rankings are based on a comparision of tuition and salaries at graduation and at mid-career. If the best academic schools are not on there it must mean that their ROI isn’t as high as some of the other schools.
Dunwoody Journal Constitution
September 26th, 2012
8:30 am
GT is far more than an engineering school and offers a liberal arts degree as well. Tech’s six colleges are architecture, business, computing, engineering, liberal arts, and sciences. Tech admits all students in all majors based upon the same criteria and Tech graduates teachers, public policy leaders, business executives, and technology experts. It’s consistently one of the top 10 public universities in America. Sadly, because you’re all reading this paper, you probably don’t know that.
Tech Student
September 26th, 2012
8:30 am
Man Boobs – Tech and UGA are both tied for amount of consecutive bowl games. Go read up first. You’re doing a great job making UGA fans look like bigoted imbeciles. Notice I said “fans” and not “grads”?
Delusional
September 26th, 2012
8:41 am
Why are UGA and Tech homers actually arguing about this subject on this board? It is an admirable accomplichment for both schools but the truth is it is the PERSON with the degree that detemrines the amount of success they will experience. The degree may help with the first 1 or 2 jobs/ 5 or so years and then your professional accomplishments take over. Anyone arguing about this is immature at best.
CalifDan
September 26th, 2012
8:46 am
Nowhere in this article do I see any adjustment for whether those UGA and/or Tech undergrads went on to graduate school, whether at a Georgia school or somewhere else. Unless this study compared only students with a BA/BS who did not go on to graduate school, it seems to me like there’s no legitimate analysis to be had. I have no interest in the Jackets-vs-Dawgs fight, and I agree with the poster above who stated salary isn’t the only legitimate metric of a good education. However, even for salary, it takes more data than this article reports, to know whether the correlation makes any sense at all…I’m guessing if you add in graduate work it doesn’t. Sloppy reporting!
GTJoE
September 26th, 2012
8:48 am
How you like them apples DAWGS? I graduated in ‘97 & I’m making more than 22K than YOU. I’ll take that over any day vesus hollow football games.
CalifDan
September 26th, 2012
8:53 am
@Don Pablo if you went to Mercer without financial aid, you come from a family of means. That, far more than your education, probably gave you the opportunity to land a high-paying job. What you know helps you succeed, but who you know gives you the chance to show what you know…never forget it.