I would suggest you still have opportunity cost to consider. Assuming a four year program, you could have, on average, earned $120,000 during that time. If you then invested that at 5% until you reached retirement age, you could have earned right around $1,000,000 over your career above your regular income going forward. As such, your ROI should really be calculated on what you are able to earn in your career above that.
To add, I would suggest that someone who has the determination and mindset to successfully complete an engineering degree should be able to earn even more than $120K during that initial period, but there are lots of variables that could be considered. It is impossible to narrow down exactly what opportunity you lost during that time, but it is almost certainly not zero.
> I would suggest you still have opportunity cost to consider.
The opportunity cost comes in to the 20-year ROI column, which I admit without a change in my career trajectory would have me well below the top schools in that list.
> Assuming a four year program, you could have, on average, earned $120,000 during that time. If you then invested that at 5% until you reached retirement age, you could have earned right around $1,000,000 over your career above your regular income going forward. As such, your ROI should really be calculated on what you are able to earn in your career above that.
As you said, the actual cost depends on a lot of variables. However, that is an unrealistic starting point, at least for the period 1998 - 2002 when I was an undergrad. As a trade apprentice, which is probably the best job I could get with only high school, I would be looking at about $20,000/year, or $80,000. Plus, your starting point neglects living costs and taxes, which are going to consume a significant portion of that amount and which my scholarships covered. It further neglects working during school; I made $3,000/year - $5,000/year doing landscaping, maintenance, tutoring, and other odd jobs. That amount is about what a part-time (20 hours/week), minimum wage job would pay at that time. That cuts the opportunity cost down to $20,000 - $40,000 for the entire period, which is not much of a head start on a career that is going to pay me more than that in my first year after graduation.
To add, I would suggest that someone who has the determination and mindset to successfully complete an engineering degree should be able to earn even more than $120K during that initial period, but there are lots of variables that could be considered. It is impossible to narrow down exactly what opportunity you lost during that time, but it is almost certainly not zero.