Bloomberg-Businessweek Study Finds Lawrence Tech Grads Get Top ROI
SOUTHFIELD -- Lawrence Technological University ranked highest in the metropolitan Detroit three-county area and placed in the top 20 percent of colleges and universities nationwide in a new Bloomberg Businessweek national survey on the increased earning power generated by a college bachelor's degree.
In this survey conducted by Payscale, a Seattle-based compensation data firm, the net return on investment was determined by averaging the earnings of a college's graduates in 30 years in 2012 dollars and then subtracting the 2011 cost of a bachelor's degree at the college and the average 30-year earnings of contemporaries who started working right after high school.
The net return on investment on an LTU bachelor's degree over 30 years was $285,100, which was in the top 20 percent of the 850 colleges in the nationwide survey.
The annual return on investment was 7.3 percent. When the average amount of financial aid was taken into consideration, the net ROI for Lawrence Tech graduates was 8.3 percent annually.
Lawrence Tech's 30-year ROI and the annual ROI with and without financial aid were better than the results for the other Detroit-area colleges covered by the survey.
"Students and their families are increasingly concerned about the bottom line of their investment of time and money in a college education," said Lawrence Tech President Virinder Moudgil. "They want to know that their college education will pay off in their careers. We're pleased that the results at Lawrence Technological University have been consistently strong and reflect the type of high-paying, high-value professions that LTU graduates typically aspire to."
The survey was based on Payscale's online pay reports of 1.4 million college graduates nationwide, with an average of 1,000 alumni from each of the 850 colleges factored into the calculations. All Payscale pay reports are for full-time employees without advanced degrees in U.S.-based jobs.
In determining the 30-year net ROI, PayScale adjusted for each college's graduation rate. The cost of the degree included tuition and fees, room and board, books and supplies for a 2011 graduate who obtains a degree in the average time it takes to graduate at each institution.
Lawrence Technological University, www.ltu.edu, was founded in 1932. Lawrence Tech is listed in the top tier of Midwestern universities by U.S. News and World Report and the Princeton Review. Students benefit from small class sizes and experienced faculty who provide a real-world, hands-on, "theory and practice" education with an emphasis on leadership. Activities on Lawrence Tech's 102-acre campus include over 60 student clubs and organizations and a growing roster of NAIA varsity sports.
