NJIT Maintains Top Spot for Return on Investment

NJIT students’ return on investment is at the top of the charts according to the Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce, which ranked NJIT in the top 10% for return on investment nationwide. In New Jersey, NJIT is ranked No. 1 among public four-year institutions, and second overall in the state.

The Center uses College Scorecard data to rank 4,500 schools based on the 10-year Net Present Value, a metric that looks at net price and median earnings 10 years after students’ initial attendance. NPV indicates how much a sum of money in the future is currently valued by taking into consideration costs, future earnings, and the length of time it would take to invest and earn a specific amount of money over a specific period of time. NJIT has moved up 83 positions in the overall ranking since the last analysis in 2019.

The earnings of NJIT graduates far outweigh their debt. Georgetown CEW measures NJIT’s earnings-debt ratio as 357%, a ratio indicating students’ earnings 10 years after enrollment compared to their median total debt. Among all four-year institutions, NJIT ranks 168th in the country on this metric; among public institutions, 57th; and the school ranks first among public colleges in New Jersey. 

New in this year’s analysis is a metric that measures the percent of students at an institution whose earnings 10 years after enrollment are higher than those of workers with a high school diploma. At NJIT, 89% of students fall in that category. At about one-third of institutions included in the ranking, more than 50% of degree recipients earn less than high school graduates 10 years after enrollment. Ten years after enrollment, NJIT students earn an annual median salary of $80,043, ranking the school 65th of 4,500 schools.

NJIT also boasts an earnings-price return of 305%, third best in New Jersey among public bachelor’s institutions. The earnings-price ratio indicates the degree to which earnings 10 years after enrollment are above or below the net price of a degree at the institution. 

Last year, NJIT was ranked 26th of 3,300 schools in the country for return on investment by UniversityHQ, which measures graduates’ annual salary and college tuition, among other factors. Meanwhile, NJIT jumped 15 spots in the U.S. News and World Report’s 2022 Best National University rankings and was listed as a Top 50 public university.