CROI Instructions
CROI
College Return on Investment Estimator
Instructions
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The CROI allows you to examine what return you will receive on your college education investment. You will as part of your educational process be investing a great deal of money as well as your time. You should be aware of what your anticipated return will be on that investment. We have tried to incorporate value for not only the college tuition and ancillary costs but also value the money could have earned and the amount you could have earned if you did not attend college. This should provide you with a real understanding of the return you will receive for the investment you are making.
Enter you assumptions into the areas that are highlighted in yellow.
| Beginning Income With College | Place in this location the amount of income you believe you will receive upon graduation from college. |
| Beginning Income without college | Place in this location the amount of income you believe you will receive if you do not graduate from college. |
| Capital Utilization Percentage | Indicate here the amount of return you believe you could make if you invested the money you will use to attend college rather than going to college. This is the opportunity cost you pay for the use of the resources. |
| Number of Years of Attendance | Indicate the number of years you will attend college. If your college program is less than one year, place the decimal equivalent of the amount of time the program will take. For example, if it is half of one year place a .5 in that location. |
| Tuition | If the program runs more than one year, place the gross amount of actual tuition cost for a year. If you program is less than one year, place the actual amount of tuition that will be paid for the program. |
| Living Expenses each year | Place the amount that you anticipate you will require for living expenses for each year of college. |
| Books and Supplies each year | Place the amount you estimate you will need to spend for books and supplies in this area. Be certain to include any lab fees that you may encounter in the year. |
| Transportation Costs | Indicate here what costs you will have for transportation. This will include not only transportation at college but the cost of any trips you may take to return home. |
| Personal Expenses Each Year | How much will you need for your personal expenses. This will include food and personal supplies as well as any expenses for memberships, recreation or other personal activities. |
| Opportunity Cost Annually | This cost will represent what you could have earned if rather than attending college, you had gone into the work force. Most likely that number will be the same as the income you would receive if you had not attended college. |
| Anticipated Grant Aid Annually | This would include any scholarship you would anticipate receiving. ONLY PUT IN THIS LOCATION THE GRANTS YOU DO NOT NEED TO PAY BACK. Do not include any student loans in this amount. |
| Expected Annual Earning | Place here what you plan to earn during summer, on breaks or part time while in college. |
| Yearly increases | Indicate what you increases in income you could anticipate in each of the blocks of time indicated. Do this for both as a college graduate and without college. |
| Number of working years | Everyone will retire at some point. Indicate how long you anticipate being in the work force here. |
As you mouse over the results you will see an explanation pop up to provide you with an explanation of that information. Make changes to the data to see how that might change your outcome. This is a dynamic document that allows you to test different possibilities.
You can download your results or send it to someone you wish to see the data. Simply enter the e mail address to where you wish the results directed and click submit. It will be sent to that email.
One important data output is thew amount of years it would take you to pay off your loan if you simply took the difference between what you would have made if you had not attended college and the amount you will make if you do. If you applied that full difference to your total student loan that is the number of years it would take to pay off your loan. Now, I realize that no one will probably do that, however I believe this gives a much more realistic understanding of the cost of college than to say that you will have debt that stretches over many years. That is your choice. I think you will see that based on the assumption above of paying off your loan quickly you will see that the college costs and loans would be paid off rather quickly leaving a long life without debt.
If you leave this page and return to reuse the document it is advisable to clear your browser history.
I hope this CROI that is provided by World Leadership Institute at no cost will help you be more successful in choosing a college that is right for you.