Texas A&M Ranked Among Nation’s Top 10 Colleges For Degree Value

Texas A&M University is among the nation’s top 10 institutions judged by College Database to have alumni with the largest 30-year earnings difference from non-degree holders. Texas A&M placed eighth nationally on the new return-on-investment (ROI) calculation and is the only school in Texas or the Southeastern Conference (SEC) to rank among the top 10 on the online organization’s basis for determining degree value.

DataBase, a free non-commercial website geared to providing current and future post-secondary students and their families with college- and career-related information, shows in its new survey that Texas A&M alumni earned more than a half-million dollars more — $568,900 to be precise — than non-degree holders over the span of a 30-year degree.

The list, which includes a total of 50 institutions, is headed by Colorado School of Mines. Other institutions listed among the top 10 are (in order) Georgia Tech, University of California at Berkeley, University of California at San Diego, State University of New York at New Paltz, University of Virginia and the University of Illinois. The only other Texas schools on the list are the University of Texas at Austin, ranked 22nd, and Texas Tech, 41.

Data for the listings came from PayScale, a Seattle-based compensation data firm. In its newest survey, PayScale showed Texas A&M ranked tops in Texas among public universities and among the top 10 public institutions nationally on a return-on-investment (ROI) basis — what graduates earn in their careers compared to their college costs.

Texas A&M has figured prominently in several other recent national surveys based on “best buy” and related factors. Earlier this month Texas A&M was listed as one of 21 “best buy” public institution in the 2014 edition of the Fiske Guide to Colleges, a publication created by former New York Times higher education editor Edward B. Fiske. Earlier this year Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine, in announcing its “top 100 best values” in public schools, ranked Texas A&M 18th nationally and tops in Texas. Additionally, Texas A&M placed second in a Washington Monthly survey that also includes values of research contributions and overall service to the nation.