College starts today for students across the country.

With tuition costs surging, we can't help but ask, "What are they thinking?"

In a new note, the New York Fed's Jaison R. Abel and Richard Deitz write that, looked at one way, these young people are making a sound investment as it now takes fewer years than ever for graduates to recoup their investment.

While you used to have to work nearly 25 years to earn back what you'd fronted for your degree, only about 10 years on average are now required.  

"Despite the challenges facing today’s college graduates, the value of a college degree has remained near its all-time high, while the time required to recoup the costs of the degree has remained near its all-time low," they write. 

However, that 10-year time-frame has not really budged since the late '90s.

Similarly, the value of a college degree has not increased since 2000, and has actually been decreasing of late.

"We estimate that the value of a college degree fell from about $120,000 in the early 1970s to about $80,000 in the early 1980s, before more than tripling to nearly $300,000 by the late 1990s, where it has remained, more or less, ever since," they write. 

That value of college has stayed near all-time highs despite rising tuition costs and falling wages for graduates actually has more to do with plummeting wages among high school graduates.

In other words, the opportunity cost of not going to school are climbing. 

We've written about the debate over the value of a college degree before, and most economists remain adamant that in nearly every scenario, obtaining a college degree (as opposed to merely taking just some college) is worth the investment.

But Abel and Deitz recognize that it still remains difficult to argue one way or the other.

"...It’s possible that some part of what we estimate as the value of a college degree isn’t driven by the skills an individual acquires while in college: people who earn a college degree may simply differ in their innate skills and abilities from those who don’t obtain a degree," they write. "Maybe some college graduates would have earned higher wages even if they had never gone to college. Separating out these two effects in research studies is extremely difficult."

We should keep our eyes on this space as the pair say they have further posts on this subject in the pipe, including one that shows that based on the distribution of wages for college graduates, college actually does not appear to have paid off for a sizable fraction of those who made the investment. 

(h/t @boes_)

SEE ALSO: The 20 Best College Campuses In The U.S.

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Another school year is just around the corner, with upperclassmen returning to finish their degrees and a whole new crop of eager freshman ready to make their marks. 

While most students spent their summers rejuvenating, taking additional classes, or building resumes with a summer internship, some college kids spent their vacations in the spotlight.

Lourdes Leon celebrated her high school graduation with mom Madonna on a luxury yacht in France, while Dakota Fanning kept up her impressive film portfolio. 

See which celebrities and famous offspring will be hitting the books this fall semester.

Alexander Ludwig

College: University of Southern California

Year: Senior

Canadian actor Alexander Ludwig played the ruthless District 2 tribute Cato in the first "Hunger Games" movie. (He's the one who fights Peeta and Katniss on top of the cornucopia in the final fight scene.)

A Phi Kappa Psi brother and theater major, Ludwig belongs to one of USC's most exclusive fraternities, which has a reputation for throwing the year’s wildest parties.

Chiara de Blasio

College: Santa Clara University

Year: Senior

During her father Bill de Blasio's New York City mayoral campaign, Chiara starred in an advertisement and made a dramatic, surprise return from college to cast a vote for him.

The floral-headband-wearing hipster recently made headlines of her own with a powerfully candid video about her struggles with depression, and history of drug and alcohol abuse.

Corinne Foxx

College: University of Southern California

Year: Junior

Like her dad, Foxx has appeared in the red carpet spotlight, at multiple premiers, awards shows, and after parties since she was seven.

Now 20, she's a cheerleader and Public Relations major at USC, but she still finds time to party with Queen Bey and dish on her style for W Magazine.

With the school year getting started, AD takes a look at cutting-edge architecture in academia.

1. British architecture office Foster & Partners brought its brand of finely detailed design to Yale University, creating a rectilinear jewel box of a home for the institution’s Edward P. Evans Hall, Yale School of Management. A glass envelope gives way to open, light-filled corridors and public spaces, while lecture halls are housed in 16 drum-shaped modules clad in luminescent blue panels (seen at far left and far right).

2. For the new Krishna P. Singh Center for Nanotechnology at the University of Pennsylvania, firm Weiss/Manfredi designed a striking three-story building with a transparent front façade and planted roof. Sensitive to the demands of biological research and the delicate equipment the building would house, Weiss/Manfredi worked to isolate vibrations and noise from a nearby subway line and mitigate other external environmental factors to create an efficient, beautiful research hub.

3. The London School of Economics’ new Saw Swee Hock Student Centre was built into a tight triangular site in the dense English capital by Irish studio O’Donnell + Tuomey Architects.

4. An ovoid clad in silvery stainless-steel panels and a rectilinear tower covered in tiles in various shades of red form a striking pair of new buildings (called Silver Mountain and Red Cliff, respectively) at the Senzoku Gakuen College of Music in Kawasaki, Japan, some 11 miles southeast of Tokyo. Created by Japanese studio K/O Design Studio, the unconventional forms house rehearsal spaces.

5. Bands of windows snake up the brass-paneled exterior of SOM’s design for the New School’s University Center, revealing a staircase that broadens and narrows as it climbs to create flexible meeting spaces in this nexus of student life at the New York City institution. The center includes classrooms, dormitories, and computing labs.

6. Zaha Hadid Architects created this cast-in-place-concrete edifice for Lebanon’s Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut. The structure’s dramatic 69-foot cantilever minimizes its overall footprint and maximizes public courtyard and plaza spaces below.

7. For the Library and Learning Centre at the Vienna University of Economics and Business, Zaha Hadid Architects devised this dramatic instructional center, comprising a main structure (which tilts at a 35-degree incline) and a second space that cantilevers dramatically from its base over a plaza below. Clad in fiber-reinforced concrete, the building is marked by ribbon windows that streak and swerve across its façade.

8. Thomas Phifer and Partners’ expansion of Lee Hall at the architecture school of Clemson University in Clemson, South Carolina, is a light-filled glass-and-steel edifice that plays counterpoint to the campus’s more traditional brick structures.

9. At the Glasgow School of Art, American firm Steven Holl Architects crafted a luminous five-story structure as an addition to the original 1909 building. The Reid Building is sheathed in a translucent laminated glass and includes art, design, and architecture studios, as well as a café, an exhibition hall, and other ancillary rooms.

See more at Architectural Digest >

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A Rare Look Inside the Bushes Texas Ranch 

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Last week, former Dartmouth College fraternity member Andrew Lohse released his purported tell-all memoir of his time in Greek life, charmingly titled "Confessions of an Ivy League Frat Boy."

Lohse had previously chronicled the hazing he experienced as a pledge and later a brother of Dartmouth's Sigma Alpha Epsilon chapter, both in student newspaper The Dartmouth and a Rolling Stone feature on him and the school.

As he tells it, he was forced to do a wide range of disturbing activities, including swimming in a kiddie pool filled with vomit and other undesirable substances.

While reviews for the book have not been strong, and Lohse himself has been criticized as an unreliable narrator, "Confessions of an Ivy League Frat Boy" still offers a rarely seen look into modern fraternity culture.

Here are 10 of the most ridiculous claims Lohse makes about his Greek membership:

1. Dartmouth fraternity members pride themselves on how quickly they can chug six beers

As Lohse explains, a "quick six" in Dartmouth parlance is the act of "chugging six cups of beer in rapid succession, a feat intended to be performed in thirty seconds tops." However, Lohse writes, "respect was only accorded to those who would do it in under fifteen."

2. The "quick six" was often modified to be used as a punishment when a pledge messed up

Lohse writes that when one of his fellow pledges lost his "pledge book," the SAE brothers forced him to complete a "quick ten," drinking 10 cups that ranged from stale beer to straight vinegar.

For many of the pledges who had just expected their classmate to drink beer and water, this was a wake up call that pledging was not going to be as easy as they thought it would be. Lohse writes that the pledge who had been forced to drink the vinegar told him later that night that he had "booted blood."

3. SAE brothers only referred to pledges as "whalesh*t"

Throughout the book, Lohse writes that SAE pledges were always called "whalesh*t" by brothers in the house. At one point, the pledges are being yelled at by one brother, who says, "You are not brothers. You are whalesh*t. And what does whalesh*t do?"

"Whalesh*t sinks to the bottom of the ocean," the pledges answered collectively.

Additionally, Lohse writes, pledges were told to answer brothers' questions by raising a "flipper" using their elbows.

4. SAE pledges recieved points for vomiting on each other while chugging milkOne night, SAE pledges were gathered in the basement where they were usually forced to consume massive quantities of beer, but instead were presented with gallons of milk, one for each pledge, Lohse writes. As the brothers explained to them, each pledge had 20 minutes to finish their gallon — an impossible task without vomiting — and would also receive points for each time they vomited on another pledge.

Lohse writes that one brother told them, "We'll also be playing a little game called Revolutionary War. Quite frankly, the game is self-explanatory. Five pledges line up facing five other pledges. When I yell 'Fire!' one line of soldiers boots on the other."

5. Pledges were not allowed to make themselves vomit during hazing

Even though they were consuming particularly rancid foods and substances, pledges were not allowed to "pull their own trigger" to make themselves vomit, Lohse writes. Rather, according to Lohse, they were told that "you must ask a pledge brother to stick his fingers down your throat if you want to puke."

Lohse reminisces about bonding with another Dartmouth student when they were both pledging SAE, noting that "pulling the trigger" for him was likely the shaky foundation for their friendship. "All that came to mind was pulling his trigger once at pledge meetings the fall before and feeling his dinner — sashimi, of all things — slide viciously over my fingers into a trash can that reeked of piss," Lohse writes.

6. Both pledges and brothers participated in a unique Dartmouth drinking tradition known as "doming"

One of the first traditions pledges learned at SAE was "doming," a drinking game where students would chug beer until they vomit, according to Lohse. The person who vomited first, the SAE pledges were told, would be considered the loser, and sometimes would then get vomited on by the winner.

7. Pledges had to swim in a kiddie pool filled with unknown substances

One of the most disgusting revelations from Lohse's original column in The Dartmouth was about a kiddie pool "full of vomit, urine, fecal matter, semen and rotten food products," which pledges were made to swim in while they recieved their pledge nicknames — a practice he later contributed to as a brother. In his book, Lohse expands on his experiences in the kiddie pool, calling it a "fratty baptism."

"Of course, we didn't know then and could never prove its contents as pledges ... we just knew the scent, the feeling of the mixture sticking to our skins, and knew that disobeying was probably pointless," Lohse writes.

8. The pledge who had the "grimmest hookup" each week had to carry around a giant catfish stuffed animalLohse describes a house tradition where every week a pledge with the "grimmest hookup story" would be forced to carry around a giant catfish stuffed animal — even to their classes.

When Lohse was given the catfish one week, a professor called him out at the end of lecture to find out why exactly he had the giant stuffed animal with him. Lohse writes that he responded to his professor as the SAE brothers had told him to — "The catfish is a slut, the catfish will sleep with anyone, would you like to sleep with the catfish?"

9. SAE pledges were forced to eat a "vomelette"

Another notorious revelation from Lohse's original hazing revelations was the "vomelette," a loosely described vomit-based concoction that a few pledges were made to eat.

Lohse adds more detail to the vomelette incident in his book, revealing that two of his fellow pledges had to consume it after one person vomited into a pan and a brother "cracked eggs over it and added cheese and cooked it."

SEE ALSO: Dartmouth Fraternity Whistleblower Describes A Traumatic Night As A Pledge

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An incoming college student who was expected to be a member of the Harvard Class of 2018 is no longer enrolled at the college following serious sexual assault accusations earlier this summer, The Harvard Crimson reports.

Owen Labrie was charged in mid-July with "three counts of felonious aggravated sexual assault, three counts of statutory sexual assault, and one count of using a computer to lure a victim to the scene of a crime," according to The Crimson.

A press release from the Concord, New Hampshire, police department says that 18-year-old Labrie allegedly had non-consensual sex with a 15-year-old female freshman at the St. Paul's School— an elite boarding school where he was a senior.

As The Crimson reports:

The incident began when Labrie sent the freshman a "senior salute," a spring semester tradition at the school in which senior boys send younger girls emails to solicit a romantic encounter, just before graduation, according to the police affidavit. The female agreed to meet with Labrie after the email exchange, but told investigators that "her understanding was that it was 'just a hook up,' which to her meant kissing or making out."

The affidavit characterized the tradition as a "competition" among senior boys to see how many girls they could "hook up" with before graduating.

Labrie was removed from the Harvard Class of 2018 Facebook — a student directory for incoming freshman — and is not a part of the Class of 2018 Facebook group online, The Crimson reports. A Harvard spokesperson confirmed to The Crimson that Labrie was no longer enrolled in the college but declined to comment further on the case.

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The rate of return for students who finish their degree in six years is 40% less than the return for students who only took four years, the New York Fed says.

Yesterday, Fed researchers Richard Deitz and Jaison Abel published an article showing that on average a college degree is worth the investment, but that the picture becomes a bit less clear for certain types of college graduates.

Now we know one of the unusual flavors: The non-traditional graduate. The rate of return on an investment in a college degree for a grad who took only four years to graduate is 14% over the lifetime of one's career. But for someone who takes five years to graduate, the return slips to 11%. And for someone for whom it took six years, you'll only recoup 8%. 

The reason is the opportunity cost on lost years of wage increases, an earnings “wedge” they say persists throughout one’s career.

"The differences add up each and every year, so that those graduating later never really catch up to those who graduated earlier," they write. 

Here's their table showing the opportunity cost breakdown for five-year and six-year grads:

Abel and Deitz have two more posts on this subject this week that promise to add even more nuance to the question of whether college is a worthwhile use of one's money.

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Some families dip into their retirement accounts to help pay for college.

A Sallie Mae and Ipsos survey of 1,601 college students and parents of undergraduate students found that 7% of families took a withdrawal from a retirement account to help cover college costs in 2014, up from 5% in 2013.

The average retirement account distribution also grew from $2,710 in 2013 to $8,870 in 2014. And 1% of families took retirement account loans to pay for college, with loans averaging $5,062 in 2014, up from $3,952 in 2013.

However, using a retirement account to pay for college can trigger a variety of penalties and fees. "You take money out of your retirement account and you pay penalties, you pay taxes, you lose the value of the retirement account, and it is much harder to put that money away," says Sarah Ducich, senior vice president of public policy at Sallie Mae. "It gets counted as income for the student's financial aid calculation and sets you back in how much aid you can qualify for next year."

Here are the taxes and fees to watch out for:

Avoid the early withdrawal penalty. 

Hardship withdrawals from 401(k)s can be used to pay for tuition and related educational expenses. However, hardship distributions from traditional retirement accounts taken by people under age 59½ are subject to a 10% early withdrawal penalty in addition to income tax on the amount withdrawn.

Additionally, many employers prohibit workers from making new contributions to the 401(k) plan for at least six months after a hardship distribution, which means workers lose out on the tax breaks for new 401(k) contributions. This makes it especially difficult to begin rebuilding a nest egg for retirement.

Be prepared to pay income tax. 

Income tax will be due on traditional 401(k) and IRA withdrawals that are used to pay for college. A worker in the 25% tax bracket who withdrawals $10,000 from an IRA for college expenses will owe $2,500 in federal income tax on the distribution. However, if the money is withdrawn from a Roth IRA before age 59½, income tax will be due only on the portion of the withdrawal that comes from investment earnings.

"Generally speaking, a Roth IRA would be a better way to take it out because you won't have to pay the taxes, and you will be able to use that full account value," says Nick Rugh, a financial planner for Rugh Financial in Palo Alto, California.

Consider a retirement account loan. 

Participants in 401(k)s are typically eligible to borrow as much as 50% of their vested account balance up to $50,000 if their plan permits loans. However, 401(k) loans for college costs must be paid back with interest within five years. If successfully paid back, a 401(k) loan can result in less damage to your retirement nest egg than a withdrawal because no taxes are typically due on the loan and you can put the money back in the account relatively quickly.

"A loan would mean that you are required to pay it back, and essentially you have to put the money back in your 401(k), so you aren't taking it out and it's gone," Rugh says. However, if the loan is not paid back or you lose or leave your job, the outstanding loan balance becomes a distribution and taxes and penalties will be applied to it.

Your financial aid could be reduced. 

Withdrawals from 401(k)s, IRAs and Roth IRAs are considered income and could reduce the amount of financial aid a student qualifies for. Waiting until your child's senior year of college to take a retirement account withdrawal could help ensure that his or her financial aid package won't be reduced.

"If you are eligible for need-based financial aid, you do not want to take distributions from a retirement account," says Kalman Chany, founder and president of Campus Consultants and author of "Paying for College Without Going Broke.""The reason for that is the distribution, whether it is taxable or untaxed, is going to be considered income in the aid formulas and reduce your aid."

SEE ALSO: The 20 Most Expensive Colleges In America

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A female Columbia University student is using her senior thesis to create a performance art piece that also serves as a protest of university policies that have kept her alleged rapist on campus.

Visual arts major Emma Sulkowicz will carry her dorm room mattress wherever she goes on campus until she no longer has to share a campus with her alleged rapist, she tells student newspaper The Columbia Daily Spectator.

Sulkowicz says she was raped in her dorm room the first night of her sophomore year at Columbia. Two other women have also said they were raped by the same student, who was found not guilty in all three cases and remains at the school.

In a column for Time last May, Sulkowicz described the pain she went through that night, writing: "When I was raped, I was screaming 'no' and struggling against him. It was obviously not consensual, but he was turned on by my distress."

Sulkowicz described her thesis — titled "Mattress Performance" or "Carry That Weight"— as an endurance performance art piece. "A mattress is the perfect size for me to just be able to carry it enough that I can continue with my day, but also heavy enough that I have to continually struggle with it," she told The Spectator.

You can watch Emma Sulkowicz' full interview with The Columbia Daily Spectator below:

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While seeking a higher education, society expects you to live in a 15' x 15' box with another person.

Welcome to the tedium of dorm life, where the mattresses are hard, the walls are white, and everyone gets the same furniture like some communist utopia.

Luckily, there are a few easy ways to your room so much more livable. Keep reading to see 14 easy college dorm hacks.

1. Loft your bed. This one’s tricky, but raising your bed will create more space in your room, and you can always find an intrepid engineering major in your hall if you need a hand. Once lofted, you can put your desk, a small couch, or storage boxes underneath your bed.

Lofting can be dangerous if done incorrectly, so check with your university first to see if it's allowed or if they provide adjustable loft beds on campus.

2. If you can’t loft your bed, buy bed risers. Bed risers come in a range of sizes, and create more storage space under your dorm bed. Some even come with additional electrical and USB outlets, too.

3. Create a DIY headboard. Dorm room twin beds are not very attractive, but you can spruce yours up by creating your own headboard. All you'll need is cardboard or plywood, quilt batting, fabric, and a staple gun.

Cut out a rectangle (or your own design) from the cardboard or plywood, making sure it will be wide enough to rest on the rail of your bed. Fit a layer of quilt batting to the board and staple. Then lay your chosen fabric over the quilt batting, and secure in the back with more staples. Click here to see one blogger's DIY.

Once your headboard is complete, slide it between the back of the bed and the mattress, and rest on the rail.

4. Hang removable wallpaper. If your school allows it, decorate one of your blank walls with a sheet of removable wallpaper. It will brighten up the space, and make it feel homier and less like a stark white box.

You can find removable wallpaper at sites like Tempaper and Chasing Paper, or Etsy.

5. Buy a floor ottoman. Floor ottomans can be used as additional seating, storage space, or as a stepping stool. You can easily find options for under $50 at Target or Wal-Mart.

6. Frame your posters and photos with colorful Japanese ‘washi’ tape. The colorful, easily removable tape comes in a variety of colors and patterns, and will give your photos a frame without having to buy or hang one.

CuteTape.com has a lot of color and style options to choose from.

7. Invest in a deluxe mattress topper. A durable and thick mattress pad will make a world of difference on your tiny dorm bed. Memory foam toppers that are over an inch thick are ideal (don't worry about getting a twin XL — a twin-sized mattress pad will work fine).

Pick out quality sheets, a duvet/duvet cover, plus soft pillows for the best bed ever.

8. Hang over-the-door shoe organizers for extra storage. Plastic over-the-door shoe organizers can be used to store extra shampoo bottles, hair brushes, make up, candy, water bottles or any other miscellaneous objects that need a home. See this Pinterest board for inspiration. 

9. Label your power cords. Write “computer,” “phone,” “lamp,” etc. on masking tape, and secure to each power cord so you always know what you're unplugging.

You can also use colorful bread tags if you're feeling crafty.

10. If you can’t have curtains, wallpaper your window shade. Buying a curtain rod at Target is easy, but if you can’t or don’t want curtains in your dorm, use removable wallpaper on your existing window shade. It will add pattern and style to the room. Martha Stewart has an excellent rundown of how to do it.

11. Use soda can tabs on hangers to hang more stuff. Pry off your soda can tab and slip onto the hanger's hook. You can now easily hang another hanger from the empty hole of the tab, thereby giving you more space in your tiny dorm closet.

12. Put velcro on your TV remote. If you’re lucky enough to have a TV in your dorm room,  you might find that the remote disappears behind beds, couches, and doors very easily.

Save yourself the trouble and put velcro on the back. Choose a convenient spot like your desk, bed, or wall to stick the remote to so that you know where it is at all times.

13. Buy command hooks and strips. These genius strips and hooks can hang Christmas lights, picture frames, and anything else you may want to put on your walls without creating nail holes. Find them at any convenience store.

14. Use space-saver bags to store out-of-season clothes. Clothes take up a lot of space, and there's really no point in hanging your sweaters and winter jackets when it's still 90 degrees. Put unwanted items in a space saver bag, and keep it under your bed until the seasons turn.

SEE ALSO: I Went To Summer Camp For Adults And It Was Like A Frat Party On Steroids

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With many elite private colleges now charging students more than $60,000 a year, higher education may seem like an unattainable goal for many low-income students.

However, the idea that attending an elite school means shackling yourself to a lifetime of debt is one of the most persistent myths in higher education.

At the core of this misunderstanding is an often striking difference between a college's sticker price — the full cost of tuition and fees often most visible on a website — and the net price — what families actually pay after financial aid and grants.

The Ivy League schools offer particularly generous need-based financial aid packages to students, thanks to their large endowments. On average, around half of students at those eight colleges receive financial aid, with an estimated average aid package of $40,000 for the 2012-2013 academic year.

And while the published tuition and fees for private institutions around the U.S. topped $30,000 for the 2013-2014 school year, the typical student received $17,630 in grant aid and tax benefits, according to the College Board.

Many higher education advocates say that colleges could be doing a much better job to publicize the difference between sticker price and net price.

"You can make big statements about being accessible, and have need-blind admissions and really low net prices for low-income kids, but still enroll very few of those low-income kids, by doing minimal outreach ... There has to be a commitment to go out and find them,"Catharine Bond Hill, president of Vassar College, recently told The New York Times.

As The Times notes, while the number of low-income students attending college in America has seen a significant increase since the 1990s, the percentage of low-income students at selective colleges — about 15% — has stayed the same. The Times also explains why some top schools may be hesitant to advertise their financial aid opportunities:

Colleges generally spend 4 percent to 5 percent of their endowments per year on financial aid, prompting some administrators to cite this rough math: Sustaining one poor student who needs $45,000 a year in aid requires $1 million in endowment devoted to that purpose; 100 of them require $100 million. Only the wealthiest schools can do that, and build new laboratories, renovate dining halls, provide small classes and bid for top professors.

The rankings published by U.S. News and World Report, and others, also play a major role. The rankings reward spending on facilities and faculty, but most pay little or no attention to financial aid and diversity.

Last year, Business Insider spoke with John McDonough, CEO of Studemont Group College Funding Solutions, who shared a few strategies he gives low-income families who feel priced out of elite schools:

Never miss a deadline."For some families on the low-income side, they probably haven't had the ability to save anything for college. They're living paycheck to paycheck. What we tell those families is there are still some deadlines you have to meet. Number one, make sure you get your SAT tests done on time. Apply early enough and then go through the financial aid process on time so that you can be sure you've done everything right."

You can negotiate financial aid offers."A lot families have never heard that you can appeal colleges and negotiate them after they've sent a financial aid offer. That's why we tell students to apply to multiple schools, not just one. You can use those other financial aid offers as leverage [when negotiating]. You write a letter to the school, saying that you can not afford X dollars of what they expect and ask them to please re-work their package. We have much better luck negotiating with private schools than we do big state schools. [Public schools] have a set budget and they can hide behind it.”

Visit admissions offices in person."If you can walk into the college admissions office we find that to be sometimes beneficial. That way, you're not just a number on a paper and you become a real person."

Mandi Woodruff contributed to this article.

SEE ALSO: There Are Now 50 Colleges That Charge More Than $60,000 Per Year

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The local newspaper in Syracuse, New York recently informed its readers that "the fastest-growing party brand on America's college circuit" was coming back to Syracuse University.

The paper noted that the brand, I'm Shmacked, made headlines last fall when it spurred a riot at the University of Delaware, and that it was "raising debates over the line between harmless young indulgence and excessive, destructive behavior."

I'm Shmacked is hugely popular among high school and college students. Their videos have racked up more than 25 million views on YouTube, their Facebook page has more than 100,000 likes, and they have more than 160,000 Twitter followers. In 2012, the popularity of the videos landed I'm Shmacked a profile in The New York Times.

The company has reportedly been valued at $5 million.

I'm Shmacked's 21-year-old co-founders, Arya Toufanian and Jeffrie Ray, travel around to big college campuses in the U.S. to throw raucous parties and make videos showing students' over-the-top antics. The startup is often compared to "Girls Gone Wild"— I'm Shmacked videos have a similar vibe, but focus almost exclusively on college parties rather than wild spring breaks.

The videos can fuel competition among schools. Many students at party schools view I'm Shmacked videos as a badge of honor that helps them out-party one another.

The ugly side of the videos

The brand is also drawing backlash. The negative attention has some students worried these videos could hurt their schools and, by extension, their future careers. Of course, college students will always throw drunken parties and maybe even riot with or without I'm Shmacked. But college officials told us the presence of video cameras at college parties encourages out-of-control behavior from students who want to appear in viral clips.

Another concern is that videos produced by I'm Shmacked promote a "rape culture" and unsafe environment for female students on campus. Less than two months ago, the company posted a video to its YouTube page titled "Signs She Wants The D" in which a host asks people in Miami how they know a woman wants sex.

One guy said: "It depends on what she's wearing. If she's got on leggings, she definitely wants the D. If she got on a skirt, she definitely wants the D." Another man said: "It's up to you. You're the man."

And a video posted last year focused on the theory that girls like "a**holes" and featured students saying things like, "Treat her like dirt and she’ll stick to you like mud."

These videos are especially concerning because there's a major conversation on college campuses across the country right now surrounding sexual assault and the safety of students. Colleges have been accused of mishandling sex assault cases, and the federal government has stepped in to investigate certain schools.

Business Insider first became interested in I'm Shmacked when one of its founders threatened a Business Insider reporter with rape on Twitter.

Toufanian distanced I'm Shmacked from the comments made in these videos.

"It's content. The students at the university choose the questions, we film it," he told Business Insider. "We do not advocate or encourage anything said on camera, we simply film."

Some students, unhappy with the negative image tied to the videos, have started turning on I'm Shmacked. Fraternities at some schools have banned I'm Shmacked from filming on their property, and students have protested on social media to prevent I'm Shmacked from coming to their campuses, students and university administrators told Business Insider.

But Toufanian and Ray still have plans for expansion. They're starting to turn their party videos into a business, with an eye on book deals and licensing their footage.

The rise of I'm Shmacked

I'm Shmacked began as a video startup.

Toufanian met Ray in New York's Penn Station around 2011. Ray had been filming high school parties around Philadelphia, and once the two got to talking, they got the idea to film college life at campuses around the country.

"He was filming in high schools and I thought to myself, 'Why don't I film college,'" Toufanian told Business Insider. "It was really the right place at the right time."

The pair hoped to attract companies (which could presumably become sponsors) looking to reach young adults, according to Upstart Business Journal.

Three months into the venture, I'm Shmacked videos started to go viral.

The first few videos showed party scenes, sports, and picturesque college campus shots set to the beat of rap music. The videos racked up tens of thousands of views.

Ray and Toufanian then started to legitimize the business.

After the videos took off, an advertising agency in New York invested $300,000 in I'm Shmacked, according to Upstart. 

Now, I'm Shmacked is hoping for more big-time investments. Toufanian recently tweeted about chatting with billionaire entrepreneur and "Shark Tank" investor Mark Cuban. I'm Shmacked's main Twitter account then started tweeting about the possibility of Cuban investing in the company. (The tweets have since been deleted.)

It's unclear whether that will ever come to fruition. When asked about whether he's in talks with I'm Shmacked or planning to hear a pitch from them, Cuban told Business Insider: "Nope. Just exchanged messages." Toufanian declined to comment.

The effort to monetize the I'm Shmacked business also includes booking venues near big college campuses and selling tickets to events.

Toufanian told us I'm Shmacked hires security and brings in police to control the events, but the parties can still get wild. Last week, 35 people were arrested at an I'm Shmacked event in Myrtle Beach, S.C. Of those people, 34 were under the legal drinking age. 

"Almost every show has incidents," Toufanian said. "When you have a sold out event with 2,000+ college students in a concentrated area, there might be incidents. We take these incidents very seriously. We implemented increased precautions such as restricted alcohol sales, additional security, and staff to monitor the partygoers and help assist them with water, a cooling-off area, etc."

The most obvious sign that I'm Shmacked had hit it big was the rioting that happened at the University of Delaware last year when the group announced on Twitter they were on their way to Newark, Delaware to make a video.

A party at the men's rugby team house devolved into an out-of-control rager. Three people were arrested and the rugby team was suspended for five years.

It may have been fun for some but we shouldn't be proud of this..stay safe tonight guys and dont do anything stupid pic.twitter.com/b9sG0OFXIv

— UD Makeoutz (@UDMakeoutz) September 10, 2013

Chris Lucier, the vice president for enrollment management at the University of Delaware, told Business Insider the school's I'm Shmacked visit — and the riots that ensued — didn't seem to have a lasting effect on the university. But the university still doesn't want the party scene to attract the wrong type of student.

"If there's a student who's using I'm Shmacked to decide where to apply or enroll, frankly, I don't want the applying or attending the University or Delaware," he said.

"A new way to scout colleges"

Viral videos aren't the end game for I'm Shmacked. The brand bills itself as "a new way to scout colleges," encouraging a culture where students base their higher education decisions on which school throws the best parties.

"It's a platform for high school students as well as college students to look at schools that they maybe can't afford to visit," Toufanian said. "If they can't afford to visit the school, they can go on YouTube."

These tweets — which were retweeted from I'm Shmacked accounts — show the influence of I'm Shmacked on college decisions:

Choosing my college solely based off @ImShmacked videos

— Drew Shmurda (@DrewDetamore) August 7, 2014

Colleges should hire @ImShmacked to recruit new students. They're basically doing that now anyways

— meeek (@meeek_c) August 6, 2014

My little sister is making her college decision based on @ImShmacked videos

— Ally Davis (@challydavis) August 4, 2014

@ImShmacked#syracusepic.twitter.com/GNBd8dLXle

— Plazitas (@JP_Plazas) July 8, 2014

I consulted @ImShmacked heavily when decided which college to go to #VerifyImShmacked

— Josh Asiko (@JoshuaAsiko) July 5, 2014

Predictably, the influence of I'm Shmacked has angered university administrators. I'm Shmacked is "highlighting the parts of college that don't need to be highlighted," Bronson Hilliard, the assistant vice chancellor for media relations at the University of Colorado, Boulder, told Business Insider.

Hilliard (along with several other sources Business Insider spoke to, including current college students) also said the partying seen in I'm Shmacked videos is exaggerated.

"It's like any reality TV show. You're going to inject an element of unreality into it when you stick a camera in somebody's face because they're going to act more exaggerated than they normally would," Hilliard said. "It glamorizes overconsumption of alcohol and drugs and it gives you a false sense of what the social norm is on a campus."

Toufanian admits the videos are sensationalized,\ but said I'm Shmacked employees aim to shoot candid footage and don't encourage people to do anything they're not supposed to be doing on camera.

"Of course college isn't a big party … we film it in about a week and we chop it up," Toufanian said. "It's very important for our company to include the party footage to be able to attract our audience. There's no point filming a video that's brochure-like because no one is going to watch it."

Students fight back 

Once I'm Shmacked became more mainstream, and news outlets near college towns started airing some of the wild footage, many college students joined administrators in worrying about the repercussions of the videos.

A Pennsylvania State University student who requested anonymity told Business Insider I'm Shmacked's popularity has been waning at the notorious party school.

"A lot of the frats will tell [I'm Shmacked] to stop taping us or won’t let [them] in," she said. "People used to make it a big deal, people thought it was awesome, but now it’s very much overrated, at least at Penn State ... It had more of an appeal when social media wasn’t quite as big, but now there are so many different accounts that show hot girls at big party schools."

And some students agree the videos don't paint an entirely accurate picture of a school's culture. 

A student from the University of Colorado, Boulder, who also wanted to remain anonymous, told Business Insider that I'm Shmacked is "really good at making an average college party look really cool."

Corey Farris, dean of students at West Virginia University, said that when I'm Shmacked first came to campus, it was "sort of a novel thing," but that wore off with subsequent visits.

"When I'm Shmacked then put out a tweet saying 'We're coming back' … the students were quite vocal with what they said," Farris said. "We watched social media that said go away, you're not welcome here. ... When they did show up, they went near some of our Greek houses, and [the students] said 'Get away, you're not allowed to film our house.'"

Some students have complained on Twitter that the I'm Shmacked videos brought too much negative attention to the school, causing the administration to crack down on the party scene in an effort avoid more damage to the school's reputation:

I don't understand why people get so hyped up over I'm Shmacked coming to Morgantown...them coming to WVU ruined so much.

— Brittney Ann (@briiittneyyyy) June 14, 2014

Do people really care that we didn't get the #1 party school spot? That and i'm shmacked made wvu crack down in the first place

— Emily Mormile (@emmormile) August 6, 2014

Kids who are souped for I'm Shmacked to come back to WVU: Little do you know they're the reason campus is so strict and quiet now #DontCome

— Care (@cgoldsss) August 29, 2013

Why is I'm Shmacked at WVU? They're the reason we have idiots that only come there to party and end up making us look like a bad university

— Hootz (@MisterHooters) August 14, 2013

Of course, not all students are over I'm Shmacked. Some students have also taken to Twitter to talk about how much they love the videos and can't wait to get back to school and start partying.

SEE ALSO: 3 People Were Arrested After Thousands Of University Of Delaware Students Rioted In The Streets

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We found a thread on Reddit that asked: what are your best college life hacks?

The answers covered everything from going to professors' office hours to scouting out the best bathrooms on campus.

Here's some of the best advice we found:

1. Take advantage of the access you have to professors

"Find a professor that you like, and keep in touch with them often. Go to their office hours with questions, e-mail them, and keep them in the loop in regards to your academic career. When you are applying for grad school, medical school, etc. you will need at least one letter of recommendation from someone familiar with your work, and that can attest to your qualifications. And no, your mom cannot write one for you."— Wendy14618

"Go to office hours. 95% of the time, I'm sitting there on Reddit hoping someone will stop by. Every prof I know is in a similar state except the week before the test. We will absolutely help you out and you'll get more out of the class than just showing up to class."— Paraglad

"I volunteered to help my professors with research, by year 3 I was being paid $9 an hour. Year 4 I was published in an academic journal as an undergrad. It opened many doors."— Uploaded_by_iLurk

2. It's not that hard to keep your room as hot or cold as you like it

SEE ALSO: 14 Simple Tricks To Upgrade Your College Dorm Room

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PRINCETON, N.J. (AP) — Princeton University announced Thursday it's considering creating a team of trained investigators to look into campus sexual misconduct accusations, among several proposed changes to how the school handles sexual assault cases.

The recommendations, developed over the summer by a faculty advisory committee, come four months after the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights said it was looking into the handling of sexual assault cases at Princeton and 54 other colleges across the country. Since then, the number of colleges under investigation has grown to 76 as of Thursday.

The Ivy League university has been under investigation for its handling of student sexual misconduct since 2010.

University officials said the changes would bring Princeton into compliance with Title IX, the federal statute that prohibits gender discrimination in education programs, and the Violence Against Women Act.

"In conversations over the summer with OCR about its pending review of Princeton's practices in these areas, it became clear that we needed to modify our sexual misconduct policies and procedures to become fully compliant with current Title IX requirements, and that in the interest of fairness to all members of our community we should make these changes as promptly as possible," Princeton President Christopher Eisgruber said in a statement.

The Princeton plan is scheduled to be presented to the faculty Sept. 15 and the Council of the Princeton University Community on Sept. 29.

A Department of Education spokesman declined comment, citing the pending investigation.

One of the key recommendations issued by the committee calls for the creation of a team of three investigators who would look into allegations of sexual assault. The university said the change would ensure proper training for those investigating cases of sexual misconduct.

Under the recommendations, Princeton also would change the standard of evidence for sexual disciplinary matters to a preponderance of evidence rather than "clear and persuasive."

The committee also recommended allowing accusers and the accused to be accompanied by lawyers at disciplinary hearings, but a lawyer would not be allowed to speak for either side during interviews and meetings. Current procedures allow for an adviser, but that person is limited to a member of the university.

Eisgruber also announced he's forming a faculty and student committee on sexual misconduct, tasked with recommending ways to improve Princeton's resources and to make sure students understand their Title IX rights and the university's policies.

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As a new crop of college students arrive on American campuses this fall, many will be forced to consider whether to major in a more creative, "softer" discipline like English, or begin charting their career path with a "hard" major like business or physics.

While the liberal arts are often bemoaned for offering few post-college job opportunities, the truth is that a great many of our nation's most successful business executives and political figures spent their undergraduate careers studying things like classics and psychology.

Here are 29 extremely successful people who prove that it's possible to climb the ladder without a bachelor's degree in business or science.

Carolyn Cutrone and Max Nisen contributed reporting to this article. 

Mitt Romney, former Bain Capital CEO, majored in English at Brigham Young University

Mitt Romney acquired a multimillion dollar fortune running private equity firm Bain Capital. His success in business was a popular selling point during his 2012 presidential campaign.

But he didn't get that background from an undergraduate degree. He actually graduated from Brigham Young University with a B.A. in English before going on to Harvard to get his M.B.A. and J.D.

Peter Thiel, PayPal cofounder, majored in 20th century philosophy at Stanford University

Peter Thiel was the cofounder and CEO of PayPal, later becoming the first outside investor in Facebook and a managing partner of the venture capital firm Founders Fund.

Despite his well-publicized criticism of higher education, Thiel got his undergraduate degree in 20th Century Philosophy at Stanford in 1989, and a law degree in 1992. He also cofounded a conservative campus newspaper, The Standford Review, in 1987. 

Ken Chenault, American Express CEO, majored in history at Bowdoin College

Ken Chenault has been the CEO and Chairman of American Express since 2001, and is a director at IBM.

Studying history at Bowdoin College helped him decide he wanted to change the system from within, rather than working outside of it.

"I was a history major at Bowdoin and as I looked at different movements in different stages in history, it was clear to me that it was important to have some segments of any particular group work within the system," he says in an interview with Bowdoin Magazine. "These people could bring an enlightened view or a different set of perspectives. I thought to work totally outside the system was destructive and counter-productive in the long term."

Parents, teachers, and guidance counselors have been stressing the importance of college since you showed some promise in elementary school by learning your ABCs and being already potty trained. But once you enter high school, the real pressure begins. Is the school respected? Is it affordable? Is it accredited? Who cares about that? The only important thing students should be asking themselves is, “Am I going to have fun on campus?” To help you with the important, but not entirely life-altering choice—you could always transfer—we’ve listed The Most Nontraditional College Campuses in the World. They all can’t be winners.

15. Bond University

Location: Gold Coast, Australia

Bond University is one of the most beautiful campuses in the world, surrounded by beaches, kangaroos, and multiple man-made lakes. However, students are warned not to go swimming in the lakes on campus, as they do house a number of crocodiles.

14. SUNY Purchase

Location: Purchase, New York

Commonly—and lovingly—referred to as “SUNY Poor Choice,” students of Purchase are often left wanting more, especially in the area of campus beauty. Mostly known as an art school, tall sculptures are scattered around the grounds, striking fear in the hearts of anyone who sees them in the middle of the night. Also, the buildings are usually described as “prison-like,” giving the campus a real homey feel.

13. Shipping and Transport College

Location: Rotterdam, Netherlands

The Shipping and Transport College offers education in the field of, obviously, shipping and transport. But to make it even more obvious, the headquarters in Rotterdam is built to look like a gigantic shipping center as well. You know, to avoid confusion as to what students learn at the Shipping and Transport College.

12. Newcastle University

Location: Newcastle, Australia

Newcastle’s cleverly named “NeW Space” deserves an equally clever introduction: Newcastle is turning the collegiate world on its head! Okay, that’s out of the way. NeW Space is a ten-story “vertical” campus, but looks like it’d be more at home in a Disney film.

11. University of Cincinnati

Location: Cincinnati, Ohio

To be fair, the University of Cincinnati isn’t that crazy of a campus. But let’s put it in perspective—it is by far the craziest thing that’s happening in Cincinnati. Does anyone live in Cincinnati? Is it even real? People who go to UC are confused, so right on the main street of their campus they built a huge reflective building. “That’s us,” they say. “We are here. We exist.”

10. University of Cape Town

Location: Cape Town, South Africa

Students of University of Cape Town get to enjoy the beauty of South Africa in the most popular tourist destination in the whole continent. Cape Town’s geography is so unique that it’s possible for you to visit multiple beaches in one day, all with a completely different atmosphere. The only downside to getting to study on this campus is that it’s nestled just below Devil’s Peak, which seems like bad karma.

9. Ave Maria University

Location: Ave Maria, Florida

Talk about higher education. Ave Maria University serves a higher purpose. The private Catholic school, founded by Catholic philanthropist and former Domino’s pizza (also a high food?) owner and founder Tom Monaghan, looks more like a cathedral than an actual university. In fact, after zoning plans for a 25-foot cross were denied in the original site of the college (Michigan), Tom moved the whole school to Florida and made a new town.

8. Tietgenkollegiet Student Hall

Location: Ørestad, Denmark

Okay, so this is cheating. The Tietgenkollegiet Student Hall isn’t a college—it’s only a dorm for the colleges in the area. But it’s too dope not to include. Your choice of school should always come second to a completely awesome living situation. Tietgenkollegiet boasts a huge interior court where students can mingle, as well as beautiful common rooms and kitchens, and best of all, every room has floor heating and its own bathroom. It’s better than living at home, even if you have to do your own laundry.

7. University of California, San Diego

Location: San Diego, California

UC San Diego is highly regarded as one of the top research facilities in the world, and well known as one of the top ten public schools in the nation. Beyond that, it inspires in students the ability to do things that shouldn’t be physically/mentally possibly, like a bumblebee who’s so fat that it shouldn’t even be able to fly. Note: the UC San Diego students aren’t fat. They’re probably gorgeous and sun-kissed. It’s just that the Geisel Library looks like a bees nest.

The Geisel Library houses a Dr. Seuss collection, including original drawings and manuscript notes. So, if you’re looking for a college that focuses on research regarding one fish versus two fish and red fish versus blue fish, than UC San Diego is a must-apply.

6. RIT Dubai

Location: Dubai, United Arab Emirates

It’s kind of mind blowing that the Rochester Institute of Technology has a satellite campus in Dubai. If you haven’t grown up in the tri-state area, Rochester is a city in the state of New York. You’ve probably never heard of Rochester, but it’s safe to say that it’s a lot less interesting than Dubai. Dubai’s economy is booming, the city is blowing up, and it has a rich and beautiful culture history. Rochester has a really beautiful Arts and Apple Festival, that is, if you like paintings of fairy women and apple sauce. To each their own.

5. Brandeis University

Location: Waltham, Massachusetts

Brandeis University is ranked 32nd among national universities in U.S. News & World Report; it’s only nine miles outside of Boston, so you get the city and the true college campus charm, not to mention Einstein played such an important part in the founding of the school that it was almost named after him (but he’s modest, so he declined).

4. Claremont McKenna College

Location: Claremont, California

The Claremont McKenna College motto, “Crescit cum commercio civitas,”roughly translates into “those in glass house shall not party naked.” Of course, Latin is a dead language, so who knows? Claremont McKenna boasts a completely glass “living room” for students to spend time in, and for the shyer kids to feel like they’re spending time with their peers. Of course, when your campus is in California, you’d want to be able to see the gorgeous weather all the time, even when you are inside.

3. American College Dublin

Location: Dublin, Ireland

The American College Dublin is a liberal arts college that’s nestled in the center of Dublin on Merrion Square, in a number of Georgian era houses, including one that was the childhood home of Oscar Wilde. But calm down, bookworms. It’s not on the list just because it was by some famous writer’s childhood home. Tis a mere stone throw and a leprechaun jaunt from the Guinness Brewery, m’boys. And, as a liberal arts college, where most people major in “performing arts” and “writing,” there’s going to be a lot of down time to spend there (no disrespect, but the best writers were usually drunks, and besides memorizing lines, what do actors even do for homework?).

2. Venice International University

Location: Venice, Italy

What makes schools like Harvard and Princeton so appealing? Their deep-rooted history in academia? The alumni? The prestige of an Ivy League school? It’s because they exclude people. But, let’s be real, anyone can roll up and do a tour of Harvard. They don’t even check SAT scores of the people who are there for family weekend.

Take that exclusion factor to the next level and attend Venice International University. It’s located on San Servolo, and the only way to get to campus is by boat. If you’ve got the cash, you could even call a water taxi if you’re running late to class.

1. University of Nottingham

Location: Nottingham, England

Hey ’90s kids! Bet you can’t wait to go out to college and discover the great big world! Wait, are most ’90s kids done with college already? Well, if they’re not in college by now then they’re probably too young to get the reference anyway. The University of Nottingham sports one of the best replicas of the Angry Beavers dam ever. If BuzzFeed made a list of all the colleges that made you nostalgic for old cartoons, the U of N’s Jubilee Campus would be the only thing on that list.

If your parents keep asking you why you’re working so hard to be accepted in to a university all the way across the pond in good ol’ England, just shake your head. Only ’90s kids will get it.

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For most students, early September means back-to-school time.

But that’s not the case for everyone, especially in the tech industry.

Billionaire investor Peter Thiel, for example, is paying $100,000 for kids to drop out of school and start their own companies.

Thiel has a point: Some of the most successful tech entrepreneurs have racked up billions of dollars without ever finishing college.

Whether to skip college or not is totally up to you. But if you’re one of those thinking about it, this will serve as inspiration.

Bill Gates

Company: Microsoft

School: Harvard

Net worth: $81 billion

Bill Gates started college at Harvard in 1973, but dropped out two years later to found Microsoft. His co-founder, Paul Allen, went to the same high school as Gates.

Gates remained Microsoft’s CEO until 2000, when he stepped down to take on the Chairman role. Now, he serves as a technology advisor to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, while focusing on his charity work at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

In 2007, Gates received an honorary degree from Harvard, when he also delivered the commencement speech.

Michael Dell

Company: Dell Computer

School: University of Texas at Austin

Net worth: $18.8 billion

Michael Dell was a freshman at the University of Texas at Austin when he decided drop out. He was a biology major, but computers were what really got him excited at school.

In 1984, Dell founded Dell Computer Corp. and turned it into a multi-billion dollar computer empire over the next 30 years.

Dell became the youngest CEO of a company ever to make the Fortune 500 list in 1992.

He took Dell private in a deal worth $24.9 billion in 2013, and currently serves as the company’s Chairman and CEO.

Mark Zuckerberg

Company: Facebook

School: Harvard

Net worth: $34 billion

Zuckerberg dropped out of Harvard in his sophomore year to focus on running Facebook. The 30-year old has remained the company’s CEO/Chairman since its founding in 2004.

Facebook went public in 2012 and is now worth over $200 billion.

It had 1.32 billion monthly active users as of June 2014, and had over $7.8 billion in revenue last year.

John Oliver spent a good portion of his "Last Week Tonight" show Sunday night examining the growing issue of student debt in America— which he likens to an STD.

"Essentially, student debt is like HPV. If you go to college, you're almost certainly going to get it. And if you do, it will follow you for the rest of your life," Oliver told viewers. He noted that seven out of 10 students graduating last year left college in debt, and that the total amount owed from student loans is more than $1 trillion.

There are about 40 million Americans who currently hold student loan debt. According to The Washington Post, for college students graduating in 2012, "The average debt of $29,400 was up from $23,450 in 2008, indicating that for many students, public and private grants are not keeping pace with rising tuition."

There are a number of reasons for this massive debt — not least of which is that states have slashed public college budgets, leading to higher tuition and less spaces for students. Another major issue that Oliver addresses is for-profit colleges, which house only 13% of American college students, but account for almost a third of all student debt.

Here's the full "Last Week Tonight" segment on student debt below:

SEE ALSO: There Are Some Major Problems With Income-Based Student Loan Repayment

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Princeton University and Williams College are once again the best schools in America, according to U.S. News & World Report's 2015 rankings.

U.S. News divides schools into two major national lists — universities and liberal arts colleges— based on the degrees and research opportunities they offer. Princeton topped the university list for the second year in a row, while Williams has held the top college spot for the past 12 years, according to a U.S. News press release.

Last year, U.S. News changed its methodology to emphasize "outcome-related measures"— such as graduation and retention rates — which now account for 30% of a school's ranking. As U.S. News noted last year, incorporating graduation rate performance data for all schools "improves the Best Colleges ranking methodology as it's an important outcome measure that focuses on the difference between each school's predicted graduation rate ... and its actual graduation rate."

Here are the national universities that U.S. News rated in the top 10 for 2015:

1. Princeton University

2. Harvard University

3. Yale University

4. Columbia University

4. Stanford University

4. University of Chicago

7. Massachusetts Institute of Technology

8. Duke University

8. University of Pennsylvania

10. California Institute of Technology

Here are the liberal arts colleges that U.S. News rated in the top 10 for 2015:

1. Williams College

2. Amherst College

3. Swarthmore College

4. Wellesley College

5. Bowdoin College

5. Pomona College

7. Middlebury College

7. Carlton College

8. Claremont McKenna College

8. Haverford College

SEE ALSO: A Former Hedge-Funder Guarantees He Can Get Your Kid Into An Ivy League School

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LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The United States has slipped behind many other countries in college completion and "educational mobility," with fewer young Americans getting more education than their parents, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's "Education at a Glance" report.

U.S. college graduation rates rank 19th out of 28 countries studied by the OECD, which tracks education investment and performance of wealthier democracies, said OECD Director for Education and Skills Andreas Schleicher.

The lack of educational mobility has serious implications for individuals and society, he noted. Higher education levels are associated not just with higher earnings, but also with better health, more community engagement and more trust in governments, institutions and other people.

"Raising educational attainment is not only giving countries more income but it is also creating a greater degree of social cohesion," Schleicher said. "Every business transaction [is founded] on trust. Trust in institutions is vital, trust in democracies. All of those aspects are vital for the functioning of societies."

In 2012, 39 percent of young Americans were expected to graduate from college, compared with 60 percent in Iceland, 57 percent in New Zealand and 53 percent in Poland. The U.S. graduation rate was ahead of Canada (35 percent), Germany (31 percent), Switzerland (31 percent), Spain (29 percent), Turkey (27 percent), Italy (26 percent), Chile (23 percent), Hungary (23 percent) and Mexico (22 percent).

In 1995, the United States was first among OECD member countries, with a 33 percent graduation rate. Since then, the average OECD college completion rate has grown from 20 percent to 38 percent as more countries focus on boosting the number of college graduates, Schleicher said.

About half of young people in OECD countries have at least matched their parents' level of education. But in the United States, a larger-than-average proportion had less education (so-called downward mobility) while a smaller-than-average population had more education (upward mobility).

Twenty-nine percent of American men and 17 percent of American women had less education than their parents, compared with the OECD average of 19 percent for men and 13 percent for women. Twenty percent of U.S. men and 27 percent of U.S. women had more education than their folks, compared with the OECD average of 28 percent and 36 percent, respectively.

Among those Americans whose parents failed to finish high school, only 5 percent secured college diplomas, compared with an average of 20 percent in other countries studied. In Canada, Finland and the Russian Federation, over 30 percent of this group of young adults achieved college degrees.

In addition to less educational mobility, the United States, along with Japan, Germany, Austria and Estonia, has "less equitable access" to higher education, meaning that it's harder for people with lower socioeconomic status to attend college, the OECD's Schleicher said. That contrasts with countries such as Finland, Ireland, Australia and the Netherlands, which have both more equitable access to education and higher educational mobility, he said.

An argument could be made that the United States has less mobility because more of its population already had degrees than many other countries, "but you can see countries with similar attainment levels [as] the U.S. showing still a much higher degree of educational mobility," Schleicher said.

Among the report's other findings:

* Investments in education pay off handsomely for both individuals and taxpayers. The net present value of a college education — the benefit in today's dollars after costs and discounting for future inflation — is over $380,000 for U.S. men and nearly $240,000 for U.S. women, the report found.

Higher salaries lead to more taxes collected, far offsetting such costs as defaulted student loans. "Taxpayers get $200,000 more out of every graduate than what they invested," Schleicher said. "It's a very good investment for taxpayers."

* U.S. teachers are paid well compared with those in other countries, but not compared with others in the United States with similar degrees. "In the U.S., teachers earn a lot less than other people with [college] qualifications," Schleicher said.

* The United States was among just a handful of countries that cut its public expenditures on education between 2008 and 2011. Other countries to do so included Estonia, Hungary, Iceland, Italy and the Russian Federation. On average, OECD countries increased public expenditures on education by 7 percent during that period.

(Follow us @ReutersMoney or at http://www.reuters.com/finance/personal-finance Editing by Lauren Young and Dan Grebler)

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Some of the best universities in the country are also the most affordable, according to U.S. News & World Report's new list of the best value schools.

Harvard University again topped the magazine's best value schools ranking, which factors in both a school's quality and the average net price for a student receiving financial aid— basically, how much they're actually paying after grants. As U.S. News puts it, "The higher the quality of the program and the lower the cost, the better the deal."

Only schools in the first half of U.S. News' best national universities list were considered for inclusion on their best values ranking.

As Business Insider noted in a post last week, there is often a misunderstood difference between a college's sticker price — the full cost of tuition and fees often most visible on a website — and the net price — what families actually pay after financial aid and grants.

The Ivy League schools offer particularly generous need-based financial aid packages to students, thanks to their large endowments. On average, around half of students at those eight colleges receive financial aid, with an estimated average aid package of $40,000 for the 2012-2013 academic year.

At Harvard, which was the top-ranked school for value, the average annual cost for a student who received grants was just $15,169.

Of the 10 best value schools, nine were also among the 10 best universities on this year's U.S News & World Report list.

Here are the 10 best value universities and the average cost for a student receiving grants:

1. Harvard University — $15,169 (58% of students receive need-based grants)

2. Princeton University — $17,994 (58.8 % of students receive need-based grants)

3. Yale University — $17,352 (52.2% of students receive need-based grants)

4. Stanford University — $19,361 (47.9% of students receive need-based grants)

5. Massachusetts Institute of Technology — $21,363 (57.3% of students receive need-based grants)

6. Columbia University — $21,906 (47.6% of students receive need-based grants)

7. Dartmouth College — $22,503 (48.5% of students receive need-based grants)

8. California Institute of Technology — $23,281 (51.2% of students receive need-based grants)

9. Rice University — $19,976 (40.6% of students receive need-based grants)

10. University of Pennsylvania — $23,542 (46.5% of students receive need-based grants)

SEE ALSO: An Ivy League Education Can Be Surprisingly Cheap

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