Yesterday’s Sunday New York Times included a special section on Education Life. One of the articles helps potential students evaluate the “return on investment” from various colleges and universities. The ROI is defined as “the cost of attending set against future earnings”.  While there are many reasons why students choose to attend a specific university,

middle- and low-income students who can’t afford to make mistakes, and students considering low-paying professions like social work or art, may want to figure in R.O.I. “The qualitative benefits of college, such as how fun the dorm life is, are temporary,” said Katie Bardaro, lead economist for PayScale, a Web site that reports compensation. “Your after-graduation earnings are permanent.”

The Following the Money article provides a number of websites with tools that compare ROIs.