The Daily Beast places the College of Wooster eighth on its list of schools that aren’t worth the money
Ian Benson
Editor-in-Chief
The Daily Beast recently placed The College of Wooster eighth on its list of colleges with the worst return on investment. Wooster came in eighth out of 20.
The article, in the form of a slideshow, is a part of the publication’s “Down and Dirty Guide to the Best Colleges,” but it doesn’t do much to explain the rankings. The list was limited to schools where at least 75 percent of students graduate within six years. Wooster is listed as having a 75 percent grad rate, just qualifying for the list. The College’s own figures put it at 76 percent, so close enough for this article.
From there, they calculated a net price based on the percentage of students who graduate within four, five and six years to create an average net price for students who graduated within six years.
For Wooster, the average net price is $23,668. Beyond the broad explanation for the calculation, there is no explanation as to where The Daily Beast got these figures or what they even necessarily mean.
The final two thirds of their rankings were then devoted to the starting and mid-career salaries of graduates, using figures from payscale.com. However, Payscale’s own figures put the College at 590 out of 1486 schools in terms of return on investment, so the decision to include Wooster in a top 20 list is questionable.
The number drops to 234 out of 599 schools in terms of private, not-for-profit colleges and universities, which is again, a far cry from 20.
In terms of those salaries, the average starting salary for a Wooster grad is listed as $41,800, a number that admittedly seems high. The average midcareer salary is listed as $64,000, a number that seems low. These numbers vary depending on the source, with no two sources having similar figures.
“When you dig down into the methodology (and I use that term loosely) for that ‘worst ROI’ list, you find that they’re basing their conclusion on data from Payscale.com, which in turn relies on self-reported information from individuals who complete Payscale.com’s employee survey,” said Associate Vice President for College Relations and Marketing John Hopkins. “In Wooster’s case, that turns out to be a grand total of 82 graduates.”
The top 10 was rounded out with Saint Mary’s (IN), Marist, Kalamazoo, Taylor, Illinois Wesleyan, Elon, Mount Holyoke and Wheaton (MA).
The Daily Beast also published a list of colleges with the best return on investment, which predominantly consisted of Ivy League schools and other prestigious universities.
