Consistently high job placement, with excellent starting salaries, and quality career preparations provide a strong return on investment for Rose-Hulman graduates when compared nationally and regionally among higher education institutions.

Stacker, an online data resource providing objective expert analysis, recently ranked the specialty science, engineering, and mathematics college No. 29 among America’s top 100 colleges for return on investment (ROI). The study examined each college’s net present value and balanced today’s costs against graduates’ 10- and 40-year career earnings.

A major component of Stacker’s report was a study by the Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce of Rose-Hulman’s 40-year earnings, which at $1,665,000 ranks 31st nationally among 4,500 colleges and universities.

Earlier this year, DesignNews cited Rose-Hulman as No. 11 on its list of Top 25 Engineering Schools ranked by Salary, citing an early-career pay average of $76,600 and mid-career pay average of $137,700.

Rose-Hulman’s Class of 2020 Placement Report revealed a 97% placement rate within six months of graduation, covering all 467 members of the Class of 2020. The class had an all-time high $76,253 average accepted starting salary, with one graduate earning a $150,000 starting salary – another record – while the starting salaries for several graduates in four other majors were above $100,000.

Meanwhile, Rose-Hulman ranks:

• No. 23 in PayScale’s latest Return On Investment Report with a 20-year return of $798,000
• As a Best Buy in the Princeton Review’s 2021 Best 386 Colleges guide
• No. 19 among 2020 Business Insider’s Best Colleges For Your Money
• No. 23 as a Best Value College in America by the 2020 Niche Guide to Colleges.

Return on investment and value are key factors in the college decision-making process for prospective students and their families, according to Tom Bear, Rose-Hulman’s vice president for enrollment management. He states, “When adding in our strong emphasis on academics, quality teaching, career preparedness, and personal attention, Rose-Hulman continues to be viewed as a best buy, nationally and regionally, with a strong return on investment.”

Rose-Hulman President Robert A. Coons points out that student affordability is a major priority for Rose-Hulman. Increased financial resources have been set aside through the Mission Driven Campaign for Rose-Hulman to provide support that’s relieving the financial burden on students. The Noblitt Scholars program was established last fall through a $10 million donation by Niles and Nancy Noblitt to provide enhanced scholarships up to the cost of full tuition for approximately 55 first-year students annually.

Coons says, “Affordability remains a critical issue in our ability to attract the nation’s top students interested in becoming tomorrow’s STEM career leaders. Fortunately, we have been able to attract financial donors to provide scholarships and other financial assistance to help us meet our current and future enrollment goals.”

Finally, the Best Value Schools website early in 2021 called Rose-Hulman a “gem” while ranking the institute No. 14 among the nation’s engineering colleges after considering such factors as a college’s overall costs, career preparedness, professional opportunities, and educating graduates to “change the world.” Rose-Hulman also ranked No. 12 within chemical engineering and No. 15 in biomedical engineering.

Find out more about Rose-Hulman’s rankings and distinctions here.