Trocaire College Ranks in Top One-Quarter of Colleges and Universities for Return on Investment by Georgetown University

Trocaire is also named an Opportunity College and University by the Carnegie Classifications

Trocaire College was ranked in the top one-quarter of 4,500 colleges and universities for return on investment by Georgetown University’s Center on Education and Workforce.

Trocaire also has been designated as an Opportunity College and University by the Carnegie Classifications, which recognizes institutions that can serve as a model for studying how campuses can foster student success. Trocaire was recognized with the Higher Access, Higher Earnings classification. Further, Trocaire received an institutional classification for nursing, showing that the college offers the most degrees related to this academic program.

“As part of our mission of being an opportunity college, we have long served a demographic of students who in many instances work part-time and are raising their own families,” said Dr. Bassam Deeb, president, Trocaire College. “These rankings solidify the work we do every day to provide the resources and supportive environment our students need to help them reach their academic goals and pursue a career pathway that allows them to make a difference in their own lives, while contributing to the workforce needs of our community.”

The Georgetown University studies 4,500 colleges and universities by return on investment. According to the study, A First Try at ROI: Ranking 4,500 Colleges finds that bachelor’s degrees from private colleges, on average, have higher ROI than degrees from public colleges 40 years after enrollment. Community colleges and many certificate programs have the highest returns in the short term, 10 years after enrollment, though returns from bachelor’s degrees eventually overtake those of most two-year credentials.

Researchers used data from the U.S. Department of Education’s College Scoreboard database, including earnings for students several years after enrolling, average net price at each institution and the type of degree a collage most commonly awarded.

The Opportunity Colleges and Universities designation is part of a newly developed Student Access and Earnings Classification published this month by the Carnegie Foundation and the American Council on Education. This new classification examines the extent to which institutions foster opportunities for student success by measuring whether institutions are enrolling students reflective of the communities they serve and how the earnings of those students compare to peers in their area.

In 2025, 479 institutions have been identified as Opportunity Colleges and Universities, which is about 16% of all U.S. colleges and universities that are in the Student Access and Earnings Classification.

Institutions were assessed on two measures: one for access, which is based on the percentage of students who receive Pell Grants and the percentage of undergraduate students who are from underrepresented racial/ethnic backgrounds, and one that is based on undergraduate students’ post-attendance earnings eight years after entering the institution.

The methodology for the new Student Access and Earnings Classification uses multidimensional groupings of the 2025 Institutional Classification to evaluate student access and earnings between similar colleges and universities. More information about the 2025 Student Earnings and Access Classifications, including the methodology, can be found here. 

The Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education is the leading framework for recognizing and describing institutional diversity in U.S. higher education.