By Abigail Hess

Nov 27, 2019

Financing a college degree is a complicated investment. Students need to weigh how much it will cost, how long it will take to graduate and how much they can expect to earn after graduation to assess the value of their educational investment. Unfortunately, until very recently, this information has been difficult to find.

When it comes to college, “we know a lot about the inputs,” Jon Marcus, higher education editor at The Hechinger Report, previously told CNBC Make It. “We know a lot about the quality of the students who apply to and enroll at colleges and universities. We don’t always know what they get out of it.”

Michael B. Horn, co-founder of the Clayton Christensen Institute, told CNBC Make It that students should think about how much their monthly student loan payments will be after college, which ideally wouldn’t be more than 10 to 15% of their paychecks after graduation.