Colleges With The Lowest Return On Investment: Payscale Report

North Carolina's Shaw University is the higher education institution least worth its cost, according to Payscale's annual survey of college return on investment rates.

The private college only boasts an annual return on investment of 4.5 percent. Others at the bottom of the list include the University of North Carolina at Pembroke and Davenport University.

To compile their list, Payscale evaluated the financial situations of alumni from nearly 700 postsecondary institutions nationwide. Schools were ranked in terms of 30-year overall return on investment and annual return on investment to graduates, with and without financial aid.

BusinessWeek reports that alum may not see returns on their education for a long time -- 15 years after graduation, some still experience negative returns.

Below, check out 15 schools that might not be worth their overall cost. Public schools are evaluated according to out-of-state tuition, unless otherwise noted. Payscale has the full list, plus more on methodology.

Is your school on the list? Should it be? Let us know in the comments section.

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Shaw University

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2010 four-year cost: $98,240 30-year net return on investment: $15,480 Annual return on investment: 4.5%

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2010 four-year cost: $98,240
30-year net return on investment: $15,480
Annual return on investment: 4.5%

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Comments

[Lee Hsu]

03:56 AM on 05/07/2011

According to WSJ, one "college" has a much better return on investment than Harvard: California Correctional Officers Academy. Prison guards make much more in a life time than most Ivy League careers, with generous pension and healthcare benefits. One sergeant made over $204k a year. Pension is based on the final year's actual pay, not base pay. There is no limit on accrued vacation time. Besides, the "academy" is a 4-month program instead of a 4-year program, and you are PAID $3500/month while attending. At Harvard, you will be $200,000 in debt after getting a BA degree and you may still not have a job.

[Barbara Garlock]

05:15 PM on 05/04/2011

My heart goes out to Shaw, an historically black college! It just got pummeled by a tornado, closing for the rest of the year. And now this painful ranking ... Hope they can recover (and their grads get higher paying jobs). It may be, though, that their grads work in public service fields that don't pay well ... I wonder if there's more to the story?

[Ignoratio Elenchi]

03:10 PM on 04/28/2011

Wow! And I thought Ohio had expensive in-state tuition!
I look at the numbers and wonder why *anyone* would go out-of-state to these (and other) schools!

[jwoww]

03:34 PM on 04/26/2011

did phil simms skew the Morehead state figures? it could be much worse

[jhhbear]

05:01 AM on 04/24/2011

This is part of what is very wrong with 'Merica. EVERYTHING has to have an "ROI." What is it that people don't get that 4 year Universities are NOT vo-tech schools? Why is it that EVERYTHING has to be "about a j-o-b?" Americans are entirely materialistic about everything. NOT everything in the Universe (or University) revolves around money, people! European and even Canadian Universities understand this, and their schools don't do what our idiot schools do and market based on getting a j-o-b. What ever happened to broadening one's outlook? To gaining knowledge? To learning to give back to the community? To stop being so parochial? These are the incredibly valuable things that college is supposed to instill in young people. Not a mercenary, money-grubbing attitude that is ruining America. I'm ashamed of the Huffington Post that they would print such an article. Faux News doesn't know any better, but Arianna is supposed to....oh....wait....it was all about money for her, too, wasn't it?

[Ras Magnolia]

06:22 PM on 04/23/2011

The criteria they are using to measure the ROI is flawed. They are penalizing institutions for having graduates that go on to get an MBA, PHD, or JD. They also are not factoring cost of living into the equation. If you are in MS, LA, SD, or KY you can stay in your state and live comfortably on 45-50K. These individuals are probably contributing to society as a teacher, nurse, social worker, retail banker, or salesman. Everyone in this country does not have a desire to be a high salaried engineer or computer programmer. I know for a fact that Jackson State is a fine institution of higher learning and is not deserving of such a negative distinction. There is a strong special interest group in this country that is against the very survival of HBCU's. I would discourage any decent white folks and self respecting people of African descent to accept the flawed analysis put forth in this article.

[Hockey2333]

09:32 PM on 04/21/2011

College is not an investment into making money later on. Its an investment into knowledge.

I'm a junior in college right now, and you can tell the kids who are going to drop out from day one. They are the ones that want the money and not the education. They realize that what they are learning is not for them, and well, its not. College education is for people who want to learn about their specific major, it is not a stepping stone to get to the middle class.

The chief problem with our university system is not the access to it, but that so few go into it virtues reasons. If you like to read, a lot, college is for you. If you think writing a 10 page paper is easy and you secretly enjoy it, college if for you. If you want to learn about ways to change the world, business, or whatever you love, college is for you.

Most business schools should be separate from normal universities. Things like accounting or business management should not be apart of the traditional university system. It devalues the purpose of the university. Education first, job a little later on.

[stuoverit]

01:11 PM on 04/21/2011

I'm surprised the Huffington Post would put so many HBCU's in a negative light.

[MarcEdward]

11:11 AM on 04/21/2011

Oh, my bad - THREE NC Schools! FFS, NC, what's up with that?

[MarcEdward]

11:10 AM on 04/21/2011

Wasn't Shaw University just destroyed by tornadoes? Kind of mean to list them now isn't it?
Embarrassed to see two NC schools on the map.

[MG Metiva]

08:10 AM on 04/21/2011

Davenport University, Michigan's toxic asset of education. Stay away from that fly-by night!

[jayes]

04:02 AM on 04/21/2011

I think a modest yet noteworthy percentage of the colleges in the US should turn vocational.

If people are there for future employment, bring the premise to the surface.

[jayes]

03:17 AM on 04/21/2011

I could spend a few minutes debunking this fairly intensive looking study (see the payscale link), but it took me too long in college to learn how to do that, and I have to watch my ROI.

[DarkKarma]

02:35 AM on 04/21/2011

That would certainly be Evergreen (Credits earned Are Unlikely to Transfer) University in Washington State !

[OldTulsan]

01:41 AM on 04/21/2011

http://finance.yahoo.com/college-education/article/109946/college-big-investment-paltry-return?mod=edu-continuing_education
college-big-investment-paltry-return: Personal Finance News from Yahoo!...

"The value of a college degree is a middle-class article of faith. But exclusive new research suggests it may be far less than previously thought.

If there's one truism that goes virtually unchallenged these days, it's that a college degree has great value. Beyond the great books, beyond the critical reasoning skills, and beyond the experience itself, there's another way that a college degree has value: Over the course of a working life, college graduates earn more than high school graduates. Over the past decade, research estimates have pegged that figure at $900,000, $1.2 million, and $1.6 million.

But new research suggests that the monetary value of a college degree may be vastly overblown. According to a study conducted by PayScale for Bloomberg Businessweek, the value of a college degree may be a lot closer to $400,000 over 30 years and varies wildly from school to school..."

Students should consider that any job performed at a desk or computer is vulnerable to offshoring.