Most Rewarding Education???

I recently read an article from CNBC on the top colleges of 2011 with respect to how much salary graduates earn in their first year of full employment. These colleges bring recent grads starting median incomes ranging from 48700 to 69900. My Alma mater didn't make the list and, in support of the statistics, my salary isn't quite up to par with the graduates of these colleges. Which colleges made the list? Well, there are no suprises.

Princeton, Dartmouth, Harvard, MIT, Stanford, just to name a few. So, although the acceptance rate is very low at these institutions, everyone should endeavor to get in to these schools, right? If you've made it into Princeton or Harvard, you're set for life! Not exactly. Although these schools bring in the biggest paychecks, they also have the highest tuitions. Darmouth's 2010-2011 tuition is 40437--more than I paid out in my entire undergraduate education!

So, let's say for the sake of argument that the cost of going to one of these schools is four times as much as a typical undergraduate education. To justify attending, non-monetary benefits aside, the median starting salary would have to be four times as much. 48700 is a lot, but I make well over one-fourth of that--12183 per year--from my run-of-the-mill education.

I'm not criticizing prestigious schools. (Maybe I'm just bitter because I didn't go to one). I'm merely saying that this is yet another example of how everything is a trade-off. If you spend more money for an education, it only stands to reason that your paycheck will be higher upon attaining your degree. If you spend less, your starting salary will be less. It's as simple as that.