<p>^^ “30-Year Net ROI: The Earnings Differential is the difference between the 30 Year Median Pay for a 2012 Bachelor’s Graduate and the Weighted 34-36 Year Median Pay for a 2012 High School Graduate. The cost utilized is the Weighted Total Cost for a Graduate of 2012”
<a href=“College ROI 2013 Methodology”>http://www.payscale.com/data-packages/college-roi-2013/methodology</a></p>
<p>The ROI values that you see are not the total earnings of a college graduate, but rather the current value of future earnings premium over that of a high school graduate (net present value). It is also assuming that the future earnings of college graduates will be similar to the past 30 years’ earnings. Keep in mind that a college student forgoes earnings during the time S/he is in college (opportunity cost), and is subtracted from the overall earnings. </p>
<p>IMO, the only drawback is that the Payscale study does not normalize wage premiums enjoyed by college graduates who are employed in places with high cost of living, which translates into higher wages, and skews the results in favor of schools located in the vicinity of such places. When surveys are done on a large scale (like Payscale), it may be difficult to make such cost of living adjustments in calculating the net ROI since people move around during their career, and onerous to collect such data. </p>