The return on investment of the 210 US liberal arts colleges

A new report that ranks the return on investment of the 210 US liberal arts colleges. ROI of Liberal Arts Colleges: Value Adds Up Over Time finds that financial returns from liberal arts colleges start low but rise quickly. Forty years after enrollment, the median ROI for liberal arts colleges is $918,000, nearly $200,000 higher than the median ROI for all colleges.

The most selective liberal arts institutions typically have higher returns on investment. The 47 most selective liberal arts institutions have a 40-year median ROI of $1.13 million, nearly as high as the returns from doctoral institutions with the highest research activity, at $1.14 million. The concentration of student within majors and the location of the college also matter when it comes to ROI. Liberal arts colleges with higher percentages of students majoring in STEM tend to have higher ROIs. Liberal arts colleges in New England and the mid-Atlantic states generally have higher ROIs than liberal arts colleges in the Southeast and Southwest.