No. 8: Sacred Heart University

Fairfield, Conn.

The Stats:
National ROI Rank: 529
30-Year Net Return on Investment: $246,000
30-Year Net Return for Graduates: $396,400
Annualized Net ROI: 7.2 percent

The Basics:
School Type: Private
Applicants Admitted: 66 percent
Most Popular Majors: Business/Marketing (31 percent), Psychology (16 percent), Health Professions (15 percent)
Total Cost: $192,000
Annual Tuition and Fees: $31,440
Average Financial Aid Package: $19,074
Graduation Rate: 62 percent

The Benchmarks:
Total Cost (all schools): $124,328
30-Year Net Return on Investment (all schools): $393,574
Annualized Net ROI (all schools): 9.0 percent

Sacred Heart Responds:
Funda Alp, a spokesperson for Sacred Heart, writes: "Sacred Heart University educates its students with a focus on living lives of service to others. Many of its graduates go on to do just that, in the public and private sectors. Also, while the PayScale data only looks at graduates with bachelor's degrees, a much larger percentage of SHU students (47 percent last year) go directly to graduate school than [do so] nationally (27 percent last year) and thus are omitted from this study."

(This slide has been updated with a correct photo of Sacred Heart University.)