By Louise A. Rosen, Senior Associate Dean of Administrative Affairs and Communications, Columbia University School of Professional Studies
In the world of finance and business management, we are conditioned to look for ROI, or return on investment. It is a clean, comforting metric. When students and professionals come to Columbia University School of Professional Studies, many arrive with a version of this calculation in mind. They ask, “If I earn this master’s degree, what will my salary be in five years?”
It is a fair question, but an incomplete one. As we navigate an economy defined by rapid technological disruption and the urgent transition to environmental sustainability, a linear ROI calculation is no longer sufficient. We need to start talking about the return on education, or ROE.
Unlike a financial investment, which is transactional and static, the return on education is dynamic. It is not limited to an immediate compensation increase. It is about acquiring the tools needed to navigate a future we cannot yet fully predict.
I can attest to this personally. After earning a place at Columbia Journalism School, I was not offered my dream job the summer before enrollment. A research editor who interviewed me at GQ magazine told me he would not hire me because then I would never attend graduate school—and that going to graduate school was the best experience he had ever had.
“You will have the opportunity to try new ideas and fail without consequences,” he told me. “You will never get to do that in a professional setting.”
He was right. What I gained from graduate school far exceeded my expectations and any monetary investment. I acquired skills and insights I still rely on, whether in a newsroom or a conference room.
Change Agents in a Dynamic World
The industries shaping the mid-21st century are being prototyped, built and scaled in real time. Take sustainability management. Two decades ago, sustainability was often viewed as a public relations function. Today, it is a core operational requirement spanning supply chain logistics, energy efficiency, and regulatory compliance.
Professional education programs are designed to bridge academic theory and evolving workplace realities. At the School of Professional Studies, students do not simply study the history of environmental policy. They learn how to implement a microgrid in an urban center or manage a circular economy. Similar shifts are occurring in technology management and project management.
The return on education is the ability to walk into a room and not only understand the problem but also possess the applied skills to help solve it.
The Classroom as a Laboratory for Innovation
One of the most undervalued assets of a professional program is the freedom to fail. In the corporate world, testing a radical new idea can be career-ending. In the classroom, it is an assignment.
Management requires practice. Professional programs allow students to test strategies, debate ethical frameworks, and pilot new approaches in a low-stakes environment. This is where the return on education becomes tangible: the development of cognitive flexibility and innovative thinking.
Over the past five years, my colleagues and I have navigated a global pandemic, economic disruptions, and geopolitical shifts. Without the ability to adapt and make decisions under pressure, we might not have been able to respond effectively.
The Network Effect
The return on education also includes an asset that never appears on a spreadsheet: peers. In a professional master’s program, students learn alongside ambitious practitioners from finance, government, nonprofits, and technology.
Over years of teaching and program development, I have seen alumni hire one another, start companies together, and seek advice decades after graduation. This network becomes a portable think tank that lasts throughout a career.
The Long View
Viewing education solely as a transaction is limiting. Return on investment is finite. Eventually, the check is cashed. The return on education is ongoing. It is the ability to learn continuously and the confidence that comes from mastering new domains.
In a world where change is constant, the most valuable currency is not money alone. It is knowledge and the professional network that supports you. That is a return that compounds for a lifetime.
Views and opinions expressed here are those of the authors, and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Columbia University School of Professional Studies or Columbia University.
