All of the discussed ROI calcs discussed above (Forbes, Georgetown, The Economist) use a similar source CollegeScorecard source for earnings. The newer CollegeScorecard earnings address this issue of variable earnings by major by listing different median earnings for different majors. Some example numbers are below, comparing Northwestern to University of Illinois. Note that earnings are all over the map, depending on major, but show a similar pattern at the 2 colleges. CS has highest earnings, and Drama has lowest earnings at both colleges. So colleges with a lot of CS/Eng majors (tech colleges) are expected to have higher overall median earnings than colleges with few CS/Eng and a lot of English, drama or similar majors associated with lower early career salaries.
Median Earnings of By Major
CS – Northwestern = $98k, UIUC = $102k
Mech Eng – Northwestern = $73k, UIUC = $71k
English – Northwestern = $35k, UIUC = $33k
Drama – Northwestern = $21k, UIUC = $18k
From an individual student’s perspective, I don’t think the primarily conclusion is they’ll get the better ROI at Northwestern than UIUC or vice versa. I think the bigger conclusion, is they’ll likely have higher earnings, if they choose a major or career associated with a higher salary, such as CS/eng, assuming they are not pursuing grad/professional degrees. If they want to compute ROI, in addition to major/career path, they also need to consider cost ,which varies from one student to the next, depending on FA and scholarships. UIUC may be lower cost than Northwestern for some students, and Northwestern may be lower cost than UIUC for others.