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<p>I’m well aware of the issues with payscale. Nevertheless I would not completely dismiss it as “crap”. It has virtually no value in making fine distinctions among similar schools. However, with some interesting exceptions, the kinds of schools that rise to the top by and large are what one might expect: highly selective private schools (especially for mid-career earnings) and engineering schools (especially for starting pay). It falls to studies like the Krueger & Dale work to examine whether these patterns are attributable to real educational quality differences, to so-called “selection effects”, or something else.</p>
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<p>In the OP’s case, we’re talking about a rather small out-of-pocket cost difference.</p>
<p>The objective quality differences between a Dartmouth College and a fair-to-middling state university are striking. Sure, you can quibble with (or explain away) just about any metric you choose (including the average salary outcomes). However, when one measurement after another so strongly favors Dartmouth, I’d say it’s worth an extra $1500. (Assuming cost is the major decision factor … which I don’t think is the case here).</p>