In our current economic environment, we all scrutinize costs more; weighing cost versus benefit, investment versus return. Perhaps no commodity or service has been discussed more than the the cost of a university education. While tuition at Texas A&M University has increased in the past few years, A&M is not alone. Tuition has risen across the United States. Yet, comparing the cost of an education at our university with that at similar U.S. institutions, an education at Texas A&M is still very affordable.
This only views, however, the investment side of the equation. When considering the return, you’d soon come to the same conclusion as many of our students. Their investment in time and money at Mays Business School is the best one they will ever make in their lives. A select number of our rankings help illustrate the value of the education we offer:
- Mays’ undergraduate program is consistently ranked among the top 20 U.S. public business programs and is highly regarded by leading corporations.
- Mays’ MBA program is consistently ranked among the top 15 U.S. public business programs, with placement of students ranked among the top two for each of the last five years.
- Smart Money ranked Texas A&M first nationally in payback ratio—the earnings levels of graduates compared to what they paid for their undergraduate educations.
Yes, a university education is expensive. It’s expensive because we are dedicated to providing the best experience for our students and having them taught by the best faculty. We could teach larger classes, teach all classes online, choose not to hire the very best faculty, or forego the outside-of-class educational opportunities (e.g., Freshman Business Initiative, Transitions program, Honors program, study abroad opportunities, or Aggies on Wall Street) that provide our students with skills they’ll use for a lifetime. Yes, we could make those changes but the value of our students’ education would certainly decline. Given the large number of applications for the Class of ’13 and the outstanding qualifications of our incoming class of freshmen, I can safely say our students view their education as an investment with a return of great value.
