March 2014

 

SANTA CLARA, Calif., March 26, 2014 — A degree from Santa Clara University ranks as one of the best-returning college investments in the country, according to a new survey by PayScale, a compensation-data company based in Seattle.

 

Santa Clara University ranked in the top three percent in the survey—coming in 27th out of 1330 colleges or universities ranked by PayScale (some state schools were listed more than once to distinguish between in-state and out-of-state tuition rates).  Among the 476 private, nonprofit institutions in the list, Santa Clara’s ROI ranked No. 17, (in the top four percent) and among 77 California schools, SCU was fifth (top 7 percent). 

 

The survey ranked schools by their “20 Year Return on Investment,” meaning the additional salary over 20 years that a graduating student would earn above that of a high-school graduate, after subtracting the cost of the education itself. 

 

At Santa Clara University, graduates were calculated to have a 20-year net ROI of $635,400. Grads reported having a typical starting salary after graduation of $53,300 and a mid-career salary of $110,000 – which PayScale ranked 21st out of 583 institutions.   

 

PayScale's data came from its 1.4 million website users, who self-report their salaries and their alma maters. 

The company only included respondents whose highest degree is a bachelor’s degree, so lawyers, doctors and other advanced-degree recipients were not part of the results. PayScale says its “confidence interval” for most schools is 90 percent at the median, plus or minus five percent (plus or minus 10 percent for elite/Ivy League schools).

 

The survey and methodology can be found at http://www.payscale.com/college-roi/.