As students begin their college careers this fall, one of their looming questions is likely to be: Will the benefits of my education outweigh its cost? Students who are attending Catawba College now have some outside affirmation about the benefits of their education.
Catawba College was one of only six institutions in North and South Carolina to make Forbes' Measuring a College's Worth: Grateful Grads Index, an index that ranks the return on investment of private, not-for-profit colleges enrolling more than 1000 students.
Only 100 institutions were included in this Index. In addition to Catawba, other institutions from the Carolinas included were Duke University, Davidson College, Wake Forest University, Wofford College, and Converse College.
The Forbes' Index is a way to measure a college's worth. It uses a formula that measures the amount of private gifts given to a four year college over time, divided by the number of full time students it has. The logic for the Index formula is that private donations are typically indicative of how successful alumni are and how "grateful" these alumni feel toward their alma maters at private-not-for-profit colleges that offered four-year degrees and had more than 1,000 full time students.
Catawba's median gift per student between 2002 and 2012, according to Forbes' Grateful Graduates Index, was $7,239.21, with its endowed assets per student during 2011-2012 totaling $32,620.
Matt Schifrin, a Forbes' staffer who serves as managing editor of investing, markets and personal finance, developed the Grateful Grads Index which is available online.
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