Big 3 mentioned on Forbes

[Life Long Learning]

Oregon is a regressive education State. They talk a good game, but NONE ever produced a SOC degree to the military. Almost anti-military in military credits, DSST, etc.

Oregon CC's have a 8-12% graduation rate?

The average starting salary is going to depend heavily on one's major. If Excelsior students are more likely to major in something technical or vocational, then they are going to make more money than someone who majors in a liberal art. Most of COSC's degrees are general studies degrees with concentrations. A lot of students go to TESU for flexible programs rather than technical programs.

The problem with averages is that they are skewed high or low by outliers. Medians are better at describing central tendency. In 2009, Payscale reported that the median starting salary for Harvard graduates was around $60,000, which is not bad since less Harvard students major in something technical than MIT and even UMUC students. The median mid-career salary was reported to be over $120,000.

http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/0...ates/?_r=0

I don't know how accurate College Factual is. Forbes also uses PayScale as a source very often. Harvard reported in 2013 that an average Harvard student will make $60,000 in his or her first year. A large percentage of their students choose to go to graduate school, travel, or pursue fellowships, which drives down the average salary. Non-traditional students who attend schools, such as the Big 3, do not tend to travel or pursue fellowships.

Average Harvard Graduate Will Make $60,000 In Their First Job, And Other Crimson Trivia | Zero Hedge

The salary you end up making, unfortunately, is also affected by your socioeconomic class and network. Most Harvard students will not pay anywhere near $200,000 for their education due to Harvard's generous financial aid packages. The wealthier students, who will pay that much, are probably making a lot more than $48,000 in their first job unless they choose to work in a low-paying position such as starting from the bottom working on political campaigns or research fellowships. PayScale has ranked Harvard #22 in ROI.

PayScale College ROI Report: Best Value Colleges

As far as which coast is more progressive when it comes to education, it depends on what you're looking at. The East Coast has a few liberal states that were willing to fund experimental colleges, and they're more densely-populated. States like California and Oregon have been progressive in other ways. California used to have free community colleges, and I believe that public, California colleges tend to be cheaper than public, east coast colleges. Oregon is considering making their community colleges free. I was able to attend a competency-based program at Edmonds Community College, which is in Washington, tuition-free through a TAACCCT grant. There are only three states on the West Coast, but if you want to include the West as a whole, then Western Governors University was founded in Utah and formed the basis of future competency-based programs across the country. WGU was founded by the Western Governors' Association. A lot of experimental colleges used to flock to the Higher Learning Commission, which mostly covers the Mid-West and Southwest. Now, WASC, which is on the West Coast, seems to be the place to go after HLC faced growing scrutiny from the government.

If you are looking at the educational requirements for various licenses, then California is the most progressive state. They allow for apprenticeships and the attendance of non-ABA-accredited, correspondence, and online schools to meet the requirements to sit for the Bar Exam. They also allow for the attendance of NA schools to meet the educational requirements for becoming a psychologist while most, if not all, other states require the attendance of RA schools. Fielding Graduate University, which has the only distance, APA-accredited psychology program, is in California.

The number of graduates is not really indicative of a school's quality. University of Phoenix, which is a horrible school, has probably had over 100,000 graduates, but it's a private school that can afford a large marketing budget.