Catawba called a good return on investment

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, July 31, 2013

The benefits of a Catawba College education outweigh the costs, according to another independent ranking issued this time by Affordable Colleges Online (AC Online).
Catawba was ranked 15th on the AC Online’s list of 35 N.C. colleges that show “consistent payoffs in the workplace.” Catawba was among 192 colleges operating in N.C. that were analyzed by AC Online. It was one of only 35 publics and privates that were ranked as “top colleges in North Carolina with low net costs (tuition and fees), and whose graduates earn top dollar over their lifetimes when compared with non-degree holders.”
AC Online contends that “the school you attend can influence your future finances,” and wraps that contention and its rankings in U.S. Government data gleaned from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), Integrated Post-Secondary Education Data System (IPEDS) PayScale.com, and the Carnegie Foundation.
Catawba’s ROI, according to AC Online, was $347,800 for students willing to make the annual tuition investment of $26,040. For access to the complete list of AC Online’s Highest ROI Colleges in North Carolina, visit http://www.affordablecollegesonline.org/online-colleges/north-carolina.
Catawba’s inclusion in AC Online’s North Carolina ranking list follows its inclusion earlier this year as one of only six institutions in North and South Carolina to make Forbes’ Measuring a College’s Worth: Grateful Grads Index. That index ranks the return on investment of private, not-for-profit colleges enrolling more than 1,000 students. Catawba College was one of only 100 institutions included in this Grateful Grads Index which is available at http://www.forbes.com/sites/schifrin/2013/04/30/measuring-a-colleges-worth-the-grateful-grads-index/.