Giving Compass' Take:

• As the costs of colleges and universities continue to rise, Christensen Institute explores whether the price of tuition really has a strong return on investment. The answer is complicated.

• The main takeaway is that simply going to college doesn't guarantee future success — prospective students need to plan and weigh many options. How can higher education funders make the decisions easier?

• Here's why the surge of college costs isn't inevitable.

With the start of the new school year here, prospective students are asking what has become a very tough question: Should I go to college?

While students pay the same tuition regardless of whether they major in computer science or art history, employers will have a different view of the value of the degree. Indeed, the decision about what to major in could matter more than the decision to go to college at all. Analysis from Georgetown’s Center for Education and the Workforce shows that the lifetime difference in earnings between majors can be as much as three times as large as the million dollar difference in lifetime earnings between those who go to college and those who don’t.

The top earning majors are predictable: STEM degrees and finance tend to have the higher payoffs than humanities and arts degrees, and engineering degrees pay the most. These differences in earnings also drive differences in student loan repayment rates by major. College majors are not created equal, even though they may cost the same.

On average, a college degree matters more than ever to long-term career success. But since a college degree also costs more than ever, students should plan carefully. College enrollment isn’t a one-way ticket to success, it’s an investment that needs to be managed carefully.

Read the full article about whether college is really worth the cost by Alana Dunagan at Christensen Institute.