The Top 30 Two-Year Trade Schools 2017: The Full Methodology

The 2017 Top 30 Two-Year Trade Schools list is the first of its kind from Forbes. We find value in highlighting the nation’s 442 two-year trade schools in a time when the country’s high schools, local and federal government efforts and popular culture are so fixated on around the arguably overstated importance of a four-year college degree.

As with our annual Top Colleges rankings, we attempt to put ourselves in students’ shoes. If a student is ready to spend the time and money to attend a trade school, he or she has a right to know if the experience and cost is worthwhile. Will I be able to pay for it? Is it a good school? What kind of salary can I expect?

The focus for this report is “output:” we want to know the return on investment for these schools. For this reason, we honed in on three major areas: earnings, affordability and quality. Our data comes directly from the federal government and is based on figures the schools filed to the Department of Education.  We considered schools classified by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education as "special focus two-year" schools. If a school did not report a specific data point, we gave them an automatic zero in that category.

Earnings (50%):

There is no better way to prove the value of something than the money that comes with it. One of the major reasons four-year schools are so lauded is because they (hypothetically) will get students closer to a high-paying job. Applying this standard to trade schools makes the most sense.

Using data from the Department of Education’s College Scorecard, we inputted every school’s graduates’ average earnings (Note: College Scorecard data comes from recipients of federal student loans) for both six years and ten years after beginning school – put differently, assuming a student graduates in two years, their salary both four years and eight years into their careers. We figured that a college degree is more important earlier in your career than later, so six-year earnings was 30% of our ranking, and 10-year earnings was 20%.

Affordability (30%):

Earnings should in theory offset the cost of an education over time, but price can still be a barrier to entry for some students, and student debt is an issue for most students nationwide.

Using College Scorecard data, we made median federal student loan debt (12.5%) a large consideration in this category. Loan repayment success rate is just as large, with half (6.25%) the value going to three-year repayment success and the other half to the five-year rate. Five percent was given to the sticker price of the school.

Quality (20%):

While post-graduate earnings more correlate with a higher-quality education, some factors like geography and field of study can skew these numbers. We therefore also looked at quality metrics that would create a more equal playing field for schools.

Using College Scorecard data and data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education System, we gave 9% each to a school’s retention rate and three-year completion rate, as both suggest that a school is worth coming back to and that it offers quality academic and personal support. The final 2% went to a school’s student-faculty ratio, for a smaller classroom should indicate more personalized attention and, therefore, a higher quality education.

Have questions or thoughts on how we could have done this better? Reach out at ccoudriet@forbes.com (coudriet@sas.upenn.edu after July).