Is a top-tier college helping us earn back those tuition dollars?

One of the most expensive investments Americans make is to earn a college degree. Each year, millions of students pay thousands of dollars and take on piles of debt under the impression that their investment will pay off.

Where does it make the most sense to spend those dollars in hopes of a return investment?

In general, does the kind of school matter in that sense?

At first glance, it doesn't seem like liberal arts instutitions are preparing its students to earn back tution dollars!

Let's take a closer look at the starting salaries for each institution.

For the most part, it looks like it does make sense to spend more on tuition, at least for the Ivies.

Save for MIT, though earning the most at the start, engineering schools seem to be the safest investment: less cash for a higher return.

When we look at the mid-career salaries for each institution, some of the more expensive schools do start making more sense.

As we can see, all of the Ivies shoot up to over six-figure salaries while all other schools hover around high five-figures.

Again,

our liberal arts education seems to be a bit troubling.

If we're spending just as much on an education at a school like ours as education costs at a school like Harvard and Yale, it would be nice if we were earning a bit more.

Let's take an even closer look at the liberal arts institutions.

As is clear to see, our own institution is quite middle of the pack!

When it's broken up like this, it seems like there's a wide distribution of earnings at liberal arts institutions!

In thinking about deciding to invest in an education, it's helpful to think about where that investment can be returned, or if we even care about these monetary returns!

Do us students in the liberal arts care enough about education to accept this stark difference in our "return of investment"?