Junior economics and finance major

From Yahoo to BuzzFeed, various online hubs have offered a nonstop barrage of content about which colleges are the “best investments.” Ostensibly helping students make more informed decisions, they offer dubious calculations about potential rates of return. Nothing more than clickbait, these articles promote a harmful way of thinking that neglects differences among students and is ultimately useless.

It is understandably appealing to simplify complex decisions down to one or two numbers. However, calculating a return on investment for schools is nonsense. Spending on a university education is not the same as purchasing a long-term bond and sitting idly as regular payments come your way.

It is a combination of investment in oneself based on one’s goals, values and abilities. Additionally, there is an element of consumption based on your priorities, funding and willingness to take on debt.

Schools such as Harvey Mudd College and California Institute of Technology tend to dominate these lists. As both are technologically focused institutions located in a region where salaries are high, this revelation is nothing new. Placing a math-averse poet in one of these schools would not achieve the desired result.

Essentially, this type of measurement ends up evaluating only students who enter the school, not the effect that the school has on them. A school comprising students who are already high-achieving and focused on high-paying fields has an easy road to the top of these rankings.

Much of the growth in tuition costs has been nonacademic. A constant demand for new luxuries has led to fancier dorms, student centers and other amenities that were unheard of in the “good old days” when college was more affordable. Economists have found that only the highest-achieving students prefer to spend more for greater academic quality.

What results is a divide in preferences between students who think of college as a way to increase their future income and those who see it as a once-in-a-lifetime experience to enjoy. While these mindsets are by no means mutually exclusive, their resultant spending will be motivated differently.

One does not look at vacation destinations and compare the Bahamas versus Jamaica for a return on investment. The decision should be made based on one’s unique wants and spending ability. There is not an objectively better destination.

Most universities must strike a balance and cater to both groups. All work and no play makes college a dull place, but academic reputations must be upheld as well. This mix ends up providing college students with the growth experience that makes higher education so valued in our society.

Whether it’s the classroom, the laboratory, the art studio or the bar scene, each student is positioned to take advantage of college’s package of opportunities in his or her own way. Some will benefit in a way that will be measured in their paychecks, and others will benefit in other ways. No single number can possibly do an adequate job of summarizing all this, nor should it.

Daniel Galitsky is a junior economics and finance major. He can be reached at dgalitskydbk@gmail.com.