Studies find IU not best value school in Indiana, U.S.

Two studies have shown the $60,000 freshman Evan Mazurkiewicz will pay during four years at IU might be better spent somewhere else.

Mazurkiewicz pays about $6,000 per year to attend classes, $6,000 to live on the Outdoor Adventures floor in Teter Quad and $3,000 to eat in campus dining halls.

In total, that’s about as much as elementary school teachers and paralegals make per year.

Attempting to rank universities by worth, the two studies quantified the value of an IU degree.

The first study, presented in a press release from the Provost’s office, is the result of the “Best Bang for your Buck” analysis, in which IU ranked 17th among the 1,572 universities and colleges reviewed.

The study, published by Washington Monthly, compared schools charging the lowest tuition while still providing students the best possible chance of graduating with a marketable degree.

The second is a study analyzing the schools with the best return on investment, or ROI. Affordable Colleges Online calculated ROI for all 158 Indiana schools.

Three data-tracking services were used to calculate IU’s average ROI at $571,100.
IU placed seventh in the statewide rankings.

Purdue University placed fourth with an ROI of $935,000.

IU Vice President and Chief Financial Officer MaryFrances McCourt said she was pleased with the “Best Bang for your Buck” results.

“When we look at Washington Monthly, it’s fantastic that we fared so well there,” McCourt said. “Even if we had come in No. 1, we would still be putting more and more resources into making education more affordable.”

With regard to the ROI numbers, McCourt acknowledged IU’s relatively low ranking.

She said given how broad IU’s disciplines are, Purdue’s higher ranking isn’t surprising.

“I’m a college grad,” McCourt said. “I’ve never told anybody how much I earn. It’s self-reported data.”

McCourt said she plans to try using ROI data to perform internal, campus-wide measurements that identify student returns on investment.

Individual colleges on campus gather their own data on student costs and post-college salaries, but the University as a whole does not offer an overall summary, McCourt said.   

“We use that all the time as the best defense for higher education,” McCourt said. “The unemployment rate is now so directly correlated to level of education.”

Regardless of ROI numbers, an IU education holds value, said freshman math major Nina Wornhoff.

“There is no way to measure the success of a college on paper,” Wornhoff said. “While Purdue may excel in some areas, in the liberal arts, music and business, IU is far superior.”

Wornhoff said she believes student “investment” is broader than attaining a degree.

“The college experience extends far beyond the classroom,” she said. “I think that any IU student will agree that the social and extracurricular opportunities at IU are unmatched anywhere else.”

Through financial literacy programs and intensive research, IU is trying to keep the cost of education as low as possible, McCourt said.  

“You don’t have to miss a day of the newspaper to not see a headline on health care,” McCourt said. “When you have these external forces on you that are raising costs, you have to do everything you can to mitigate that increase.”

Recent undergraduate tuition and fee increases of 1.75 percent for most in-state students and 2.75 percent for out-of-state students were the lowest in at least 40 years, according to the Provost’s press release.

Mazurkiewicz said he won’t be earning $60,000 a year after college. He plans to attend medical school, which means more money spent on tuition, housing and food.

However, at the end of four years, $60,000 spent at IU will be worth it, he said.

“There’s a shrinking career field that takes people with only high school diplomas,” Mazurkiewicz said. “Debt or no debt, it’s not an option. You still have to go to college.”

Follow reporter Hannah Alani on Twitter @hannahalani.