Public Virginia universities “bang for the buck.” Graphic credit: Cranky’s Blog
John Butcher has a clever — and comprehensible — way to calculate the educational “bang for the buck” delivered by Virginia’s public colleges and universities, taking into account the six-year graduation rate and the median income of former students receiving financial aid after 10 years. Check out Cranky’s Blog for the fine print on methodology.
The University of Virginia stands out, not just on the basis of grads’ high salaries (which one would expect given the fact that UVa is the most selective institution) but its high graduation rate. The graduation rate is a function of many things including the support given to students but also the socio-economic status of the student body. Even with generous financial aid, poorer students have a tougher time coming up with the scratch to stay in school. UVa takes in a low percentage of high-need Pell grant recipients.
Needless to say, this “bang for the buck” ranking is a rough cut. But it gets us a step closer to the holy grail of measuring return on educational investment so we can tell which institutions are adding the most educational value as opposed to getting the best results because they recruit the best students
