The document discusses visualizing data on the return on investment of higher education. It notes that many Americans must decide whether to pursue higher education each year while considering the costs. The average cost for a 4-year degree at a public university is $17,860, while a private university is much higher at $39,518. The document aims to help students and families make informed decisions by visualizing college cost and financial aid data to compare options and see expected returns through income potential. It analyzes data from the College Scorecard on college statistics, student loan amounts, and average incomes to create visualizations with Tableau.

1. Visualizing ROI on
Higher Education
Krishnesh Pujari and Ravi Alluru

2. INTRODUCTION
• Every year many Americans have to make
a choice about higher education.
• Ponder on various factors which influence
their decision.
• One major deciding factor is the cost of
education.

3. MOTIVATION
• Average cost for attending a 4 year public
institution - $ 17,860
• For a private institution the same degree
would cost - $ 39,518
• That’s a lot of money.

4. MOTIVATION contd..
• According to NCES- 79% under graduates
received financial aid.
• 59% received university grants, 42% took
out education loans.

5. Motivation contd..
• Is the cost worth it?
• Our goal - visualize the higher education
data.
• Help students and families compare the
college costs and take informed decisions.

6. Data
• Visualized the college scorecard data.
• Contains college statistics, student loan
and income details.
• Used Tableau to visualize the data.
• Created a story with visualizations.

7. RESULTS

8. RESULTS

9. RESULTS

10. RESULTS

11. CONCLUSIONS
• Average student debt nationwide at
graduation - $ 12,218.
• 44% of students who are having debts are
coming from a sub-urban region.
• States like California, Pennsylvania, New
York are having maximum average
student debts.

12. Questions and Comments