slides: Seven Massachusetts Colleges Make Forbes Top ROI List for 2014

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Monday, April 07, 2014

GoLocalWorcester News Team

Seven colleges and universities in Massachusetts have been named to Forbes’ list of Top 50 ROI Colleges in 2014 including three in the top 10. A total of fifteen colleges and universities throughout New England made the list.

Forbes ranked all private not-for-profit colleges and universities in the nation who have more than 1,000 fulltime students to determine which colleges and universities had the highest return on investment (ROI).
Williams College (2nd), Amherst College (6th), Wellesley College (8th), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (13th), Harvard University (20th), Brandeis University (34th), and Smith College (41st) were the seven colleges and universities in Massachusetts to make Forbes’ list. 

With a four year program at an elite private college or university now totaling almost a quarter of a million dollars, perspective students and their parents are hoping to find a college or university that offers a track to success. 

To see which New England colleges and universities made Forbes’ list, check out the slideshow below. 

Methodology

To determine which colleges and universities ranked highest, Forbes developed a formula known as the Grateful Graduate Index. 

The index ranks schools based on two key factors: the median donation amount per student over a ten-year period and the percentage of students that donate over a four year period, averaging the best three years out of that period. 

The addition of the percentage of students that donate is a new section in this year’s formula after it was determined that just using the media donation amount was unfair to smaller humanities oriented liberal arts colleges who had high percentages of alumni donate, but had much lower median donations because their professions paid less than schools with high paying majors like engineering and computer science. 

The percentage of students who donate know carries a 20-percent weighting in the formula. College and universities whose alumni participation rate is greater than 30-percent immediately were given full credit for this section. 

Rankings Shakeup

Adding the new section to the formula provided a rankings shakeup from last year’s list of top ROI colleges.

Last year’s list saw many top colleges and universities with engineering and computer science programs like Caltech, MIT, and Stanford dominate the rankings because their alumni often have very successful and high paying jobs, giving them the financial ability to contribute back to their alma mater. Caltech, MIT, and Stanford ranked 16th, 13th, and 10th respectively after ranking as the top three ROI colleges last year.

Smaller and lesser known colleges and universities like Hamilton College and Washington and Lee University made their way onto this year’s list because although their alumni were giving less back, there was a much higher percentage of participation than some of the top schools in the nation like Columbia University. 

This years’ top five ROI colleges and universities are Princeton University, Dartmouth College, Williams College, Claremont McKenna College, and Bowdoin College.
 

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Related Slideshow: Top New England ROI Colleges in 2014 Ranked By Forbes

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