> compare the career earnings of graduates with the present-day cost of a degree at their alma maters, net of financial aid
Woah, what? So a degree that cost $1 but raised your career earnings by $100 would be at 100%? 1000%? Not sure how they're doing the math, but it completely dwarfs the rest. And shows how obviously flawed the measure itself is.
One of the key things left out is the baseline cost of time. A few years of your life is not free and probably makes for a pretty high baseline cost.