Payback is rich

In this troubled economy, we can take comfort in the return on tuition rates

So, you didn’t get into one of those fancy Ivy League schools in the North and instead “settled” to stay at home here at the University.

Well, in that case, pop the champagne and cue the band, because it may have been the best decision of your life.

While graduates of the Princetons, Harvards and Yales of the world pat themselves on the back for graduating from the best of the best, every one us should sit back and laugh.

Monday, Smart Money Magazine re-released its top institutions for a graduate’s earnings compared to the cost of getting a degree.

Although the University inadvertently gave Smart Money Magazine some incorrect information about its tuition rates, our very own institution is still in the top five.

Going from No. 1 to No. 4 is still a good reason to celebrate.

In today’s troubled economy, the number of families able to afford a college education is rapidly decreasing. We’re lucky to have this luxury.

According to the most recent data available, the average payback for a Georgia graduate is 239 percent, higher than each and every member of the Ivy League.

For the class of 2005, the cost of a degree for an out-of-state student at Georgia was $54,742 and the median salary three years after earning a degree was $44,100.

A mere 15 years after graduation, that number jumped to $86,000 a year.

Although the average salary for a Princeton grad after three years is $66,500 and after 15 years is $131,000, the average payback is only 132 percent, considering the cost of attaining a degree eclipsed $111,000.

Now math may not be our strongest subject, but a payback of 239 percent is significantly higher than 132.

We’ll take that trade-off any day of the week.

And we didn’t need an Ivy League-trained Wall Street banker to tell us that.

- Michael Fitzpatrick for the editorial board