Return on Gustavus Education

At Gustavus we’re keenly aware of the investment you’re making in your child’s education, and that you’re keenly interested in the return on that investment.

Conventional return-on-investment (ROI) measures can be found throughout this site—and we have many to share, like those listed here in regards to our outstanding graduation and retention rates and our post-graduation placement rates. In addition, you will be able to see the outstanding companies where our graduates are finding employment, the range of salaries our graduates are reporting they are making, and the elite caliber of graduate schools they are attending.

Retention and Graduation Rates 

Rate	Gustavus Adolphus College	Peer Institutions	Annapolis Group	Minnesota Private Colleges	Minnesota State Universities*
1st to 2nd Year Retention Rate	92%	87%	89%	85%	74%
4 Year Graduation Rate	83%	70%	75%	65%	25%
5 Year Graduation Rate	84%	75%	78%	74%	0%
6 Year Graduation Rate	85%	78%	80%	76%	46%

* 5 year data not available

Gustavus graduates are well prepared to go out and “Make Their Lives Count” and statistics show that they are receiving a strong return on their investment. But, we are also aware that the true return on an investment like Gustavus is impossible to capture in financial terms alone, and therefore marginalized by rankings and polls that measure only those terms.

So at Gustavus we're launching COLLEGE R.O.E. (Return on Education), a multi-year initiative to capture the holistic return on a college investment, spanning and measuring "returns" on dimensions of finance to faith and everything that counts in between.  

To learn more about COLLEGE R.O.E. and how you can get involved please go to the following website which will provide you with a plethora of information regarding the Return on Gustavus Education.  If the link does not work, copy and paste the following into your web browser: https://gustavus.edu/roe/index.php