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Overview

See what a degree costs before you chase it.

Compare the same major across schools, adjust your debt comfort level, and instantly see how tuition, aid assumptions, and salary outcomes change estimated ROI.

Cost of the dream

Dream school vs other choices

Jobs & AI

AI outlook for your field of study

Macro labor market for young people

Economic climate for recent grads

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Methodology

MILOai College ROI is a free tool for students to help plan for college. It lets you compare colleges for the same major across different four-year schools on a common basis.

I’m a high school student and built this to answer the question. Does this degree pay for itself, roughly how long might that take, if I borrow/get some aid and how the major I choose may be affected by AI in the future?

I also built this project to learn to code, economics, learn about data models, learn about AI/AI tools and what it takes to deploy a digital product from A to Z.

Methodology (summary)

  • Break-even & ROI chart — Your inputs (aid, debt, interest), net price, and the 5-year median earnings from College Scorecard Data. The 20-year earnings curve is modeled from that single figure (ramp in early career, then growth).

    I assume your income isn’t flat:

    • Years 1–5: salary ramps up to the typical 5-year median earnings level
    • Years 6–20: grows ~2.5% per year (normal raises)

    Break-even is where that modeled cumulative earnings cross lifetime cost (your net tuition after aid, years in school, and loan interest).

  • Cost of the dream — Star one school as your Dream school. The tool compares it to the lowest lifetime net cost among your other selected schools, using the same aid, years in school, debt, loan rate, and home state for every school. The headline is the extra lifetime cost of the Dream vs that alternative; the tiles spell out what that gap might mean in earnings, aid, or monthly payment. If your Dream is already your cheapest pick, there’s no premium to show.
  • Jobs & AI — The school-card pill and heatmap use major-level outlook categories (Declining, At risk, Transitioning, Augmented, Growing) from an interpretive read of the World Economic Forum Future of Jobs 2025, keyed to the major list. This is a planning signal about broad trends—not a guarantee about any one job, salary, or school.

Data Sources

School identity, program-level net price, median debt, 5-year earnings, and published cost of attendance are built from the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard Data & NCES (IPEDS). Snapshot: March 2026, College Scorecard Most Recent Cohorts (release bundle March 23, 2026).

Macro charts — Visualizations from Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED), St. Louis Fed, BLS, and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Privacy
No cookies for advertising, No cross-site tracking, and no personal information is collected. Aggregate product use, overall site visits, school and major selections may be collected to help improve the site.