Photo by NCinDC

When Rick Santorum called President Obama a snob because his education policy advocates that people go to go to college, the nation, or at least the media, paid attention.

Santorum is not the only one who is dubious about the emphasis put on higher education. Among 1,501 adults who participated in a recent survey conducted by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, 26 percent perceived that colleges have a negative effect on the way the country is going. However, 60 percent of those surveyed felt they have a positive effect.

Though having an educated population is certainly a boon to our nation, having a population riddled by debt is not. While enrollment in degree-granting postsecondary institutions continues to rise according to the National Center for Education Statistics, the average amount of student debt has also been trending upward. It is estimated that the average student debt for 2011 graduates is $27,200.

Despite the debt, an overwhelming majority of college graduates say their education was worth the investment according to the Pew poll. In preparation for their ranking of top colleges in terms of return on investment, Bloomberg Businessweek and Payscale calculated the 30-year ROI for each school to be ranked. The average return ended up being about $387,501 over 30 years.

Santorum admitted that his snob comment was ill-advised in a recent interview with Wolf Blitzer.

An article about reverse transferring has some additional food for thought here.