Investing in studies pays off

he data speak for themselves: according to a report by the OECD, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the ratio of the employability of college graduates in the 25-34 age group to the rest of their peers is 1.07. A college degree, therefore, pays off. Even better if it is obtained with a study abroad where you learn a new language and gain new experiences because, after all, our children will be even more of us “citizens of the world.” But where to go, then? And how much to invest in one’s children’s education?

SWISS QUALITY

Those who are content with a “little trip” can consider Swiss universities: in the ranking of the best universities in the world (www.topuniversities.com) we find the Eth of Zurich (Institute of Technology) in seventh place, Epfl Lausanne (Polytechnic Institute) in twenty-second place, and the University of Zurich in seventieth. Staying in Europe, in the top positions we find several universities in the United Kingdom: Oxford and Cambridge (in fifth and sixth place), Imperial College and University College London, the University of Edinburgh and the University of Manchester.

THE AMERICAN DREAM

Needless to hide, however, the dream of many, today as yesterday, is America: MIT, Stanford, Harvard, California institute of technology (Caltech), the University of Chicago and Princeton, just to name a few. If we look at the employment opportunities on offer, the QS Graduate Employability Rankings 2018 published by QS Quacquarelli Symonds, a consulting firm specializing in university and management education, has Stanford, University of California (UCLA) and Harvard at the top followed by the University of Sydney, MIT and the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom. In tenth place is China’s Tsinghua University.

But how much does it cost to study abroad? Let’s take the example just from MIT, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. An academic year can cost the equivalent of about 58 thousand euros, including 43 thousand euros in tuition, 13 thousand for room and board, and 2 thousand for books and personal expenses. Too much? Not necessarily: financial aid and scholarships are reserved for less affluent students.

THE MOST EXPENSIVE UNIVERSITIES

Yet MIT is not the most expensive university in the world. Rankings in hand, according to a report by the business news site Business Insider, the record belongs to Bard College, one of the best conservatories in the United States: a five-year degree in music costs $253 thousand (plus or minus 215 thousand euros, and we are talking only about tuition costs). Cheaper is Columbia University’s medical school at $230 thousand (195 thousand euros). Even better is Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, California, which charges an average of $209 thousand (177 thousand euros) for four years of coursework in science, math and engineering.

But is it worth it or not to study at these universities? Looking at the numbers, it would seem so: again according to Business Insider, a graduate from Harvey Mudd College earns an average salary of $78,200 (66 thousand euros) at the beginning of his or her career and $133 thousand (113 thousand euros) at mid-career.

In short, the investment pays off.

WATCH OUT FOR ENTRANCE TESTS

That said-and here we come to the second hurdle-entering such prestigious universities is certainly not easy. In fact, it is essential to know English perfectly, to have a solid scholastic background, alertness and nerves of steel: the SAT tests-an acronym for Scholastic Aptitude Test and Scholastic Assessment Test, the aptitude test generally required for admission to colleges in the United States that includes critical reading, math and writing-are complex and must be completed in a limited time, usually within four hours.

PASSAGE TO THE EAST

et’s pause for a moment, though. Why turn our gaze exclusively to the West? There is not only the United States. There are prestigious universities in Asia, too, that are slowly climbing the rankings. For example, there is the University of Tokyo, ranked 11th in the world in the rankings compiled by Times Higher Education magazine.Be careful, however, because in order to study at universities in the Rising Sun, you must know Japanese, which is required in entrance tests. Should they be passed, you can inquire about a scholarship: the Embassy of Japan in Italy provides some reserved exclusively for students from our country.

But if we talk about the East, we cannot forget China: among the best universities in the Land of the Dragon there is Peking University in Beijing (39th in the ranking compiled by Times Higher Education) or, again, the University of Hong Kong, with courses in English certainly more accessible for an Italian student. The costs? They start from 4-8 thousand euros per year for first-level courses to 20 thousand for specializations.

A LOOK AT INDIA

But those with a good grasp of English can also look with interest to India, which boasts some prestigious universities such as the IIM-Indian Institute of Management and the IIT-Indian Institute of Technology, which have campuses throughout the country and cost roughly 4-5 thousand euros a year. It was at the institute of technology, at its Kharagpur location in eastern India, that Google’s current CEO Sundar Pichai graduated, having later specialized in the U.S., first at Stanford then at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania (163 thousand euros for a two-year executive master’s degree). In his case the investment worked, as the manager’s current salary is around $100 million a year, plus or minus 85 million euros. But it hasn’t gone bad for his classmates either: again as reported by Business Insider, the average salary of a recent Wharton School graduate is around $108,000.

Moral of the story: investing in your children’s future by choosing a prestigious university costs money. But it almost always pays off.