Affordable Colleges Online recently named MSU as one of the top colleges in the state of Texas with the best lifetime return investment.
Midwestern ranked number 15 among the likes of Texas Christian University (No. 17) and Sam Houston State University (No. 14).
The website analyzed over 400 different colleges in Texas and ranked 49 of them.
AC Online uses a range of factors to rank the colleges including tuition and fees and return of investment calculation.
“It’s interesting to think about. I think it’s important to consider the value of your university and how it will help you find a successful career,” Jacob Starkey, senior in visual arts, said. “So, yeah, I think it’s awesome that MSU is ranked so high, and maybe we should tell more people.”
Rice University in Houston ranked number one with a return of investment of over $1 Million but with a cost of attendance being almost $40,000 per year.
At MSU, students can expect to pay closer to $15,000 per year as one of the most affordable colleges in the nation.
“I feel like I went to MSU and got my degree immediately after college,” Inez Pitts, R.N. and graduate in nursing, said. “I was able to get a job in a degree field that I like.”
Administrators also feel the ranking by Affordable Colleges Online was a fair and accurate assessment.
Keith Lamb, vice president of student affairs and enrollment management, said, “[AC Online] got it right. We give a private educational experience at a public price and you can see that from the size of the institution to the student-faculty ratio and the quality learning environment that we have.”
Some graduates, however, feel the return on their college investment is a double-edged sword, if only temporarily.
“In the business sense no [I haven’t gotten a return on my investment] because I haven’t seen any monetary return in my field,” Eric Lewis, graduate in history, said. “Academically, yes, because I am in graduate school at UNT right now.”