SoFi, a San Francisco-based financial services startup, has this week released a new MBA ranking that rates US-based business schools in terms of return on investment.
In this new ranking, the primary factor for return on investment is salary-to-debt ratio. That is, the average salary of graduates compared to the average level of debt that they have.
According to the new ranking, the best MBA program in terms of salary-to-debt ratio is offered by the New York Institute of Technology ( NYIT). Graduates of this program make an average of $126,068, and have an average debt of $50,308. The runner-is the MBA program from Saint Mary's College of California; graduates of this program make $116,497 and have debt of $49,223, on average. CSU East Bay takes the third spot. (see the top 10 schools below.)
In terms of the worst MBA programs for salary-to-debt ratio, Davenport University is the top offender. Graduates from this school's MBA program make $79,233, on average, while having around $135,722 in debt. Other notable schools on this list include the University of Missouri at Columbia (ranked ninth), New York's Seton Hall University (ranked fifth), and Strayer University (ranked fourth).
The third ranking that SoFi published is the top 20 MBA programs with the best salary outcomes. Columbia Business School comes out on top of this ranking, with an average salary of $183,472. Rankings stalwarts Wharton, Stanford, MIT - Sloan, and Harvard make up the rest of the top-five in that order.
To determine the rankings, SoFi surveyed more than 240,000 people who applied for student loan refinancing between January 2014 and September 2015. The figures used for the MBA analysis were based on applicants who had reported receiving an MBA and who have three years of work experience since completing the degree (on average).
Here are the top 10 schools in terms of the best post-MBA salary-to-debt ratio, along with relevant info from the most recent Bloomberg Businessweek MBA rankings:
| Rank | Business School | Average Salary | Average Debt | 2015 Bloomberg Ranking |
| 1 | New York Institute of Technology (NYIT) | $126,068 | $50,308 | - |
| 2 | Saint Mary's College of California | $116,497 | $49,223 | - |
| 3 | CSU East Bay | $89,894 | $38,030 | - |
| 4 | Stanford Graduate School of Business | $177,590 | $76,987 | 7 (full-time MBA rank) |
| 5 | Florida Atlantic University | $104,820 | $45,573 | 55 (part-time MBA rank) |
| 6 | Texas A&M - Mays | $107,890 | $48,713 | 22 (full-time MBA rank) |
| 7 | University of Connecticut | $118,255 | $55,379 | - |
| 8 | George Mason University | $111,238 | $52,197 | - |
| 9 | Villanova University | $126,730 | $60,293 | 12 (part-time MBA rank) |
| 10 | University of Kansas | $97,086 | $46,245 | - |
See the complete ranking report on SoFi's MBA Rankings page.
You can also see other ranking information on FIND MBA's Ranking page.
Image: CSU East By by Jennifer Williams / Creative Commons (cropped)
