How is the ROI calculated?

ROI is calculated by comparing your total course cost (tuition plus living expenses over the course length) against the extra earnings you gain from having the degree over 5 years, compared to not having it.

Where does the salary data come from?

Starting and 5-year salary figures are based on published graduate outcome surveys and salary data for each course and university combination.

Is this tool free to use?

Yes. CollegeROI is completely free, with no sign-up required. Calculate, compare and explore as many courses as you like.

Is Your Irish Course
Worth the Investment?

Compare salary data, ROI and payback periods for 377 courses at UCD, Trinity, DCU, UCC and more. Completely free.

377Courses

13Universities

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Where will you live?

~€18,000/yr · rent, food, transport & bills (Dublin higher)

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CAO Key Dates

1

Pick a course
Search or browse from the left panel

2

Calculate ROI
See salary, payback & 5-year return

3

Compare & decide
Stack up to 5 courses side by side

Popular starting points Click any course to calculate its ROI instantly

Why use CollegeROI?

Picking a CAO course is one of the biggest financial decisions you'll make. We built this so you can see the actual numbers before you decide.

Real salary data

Starting and 5-year salaries from the HEA Graduate Outcomes Survey, not guesswork or LinkedIn scrapes.

Payback periods

See exactly how long before your degree pays for itself, factoring in tuition, living costs and lost earnings while studying.

Side-by-side comparison

Stack up to 5 courses at once. Useful when you're torn between two fields and want the numbers to help you decide.

Not sure where to start?

Answer a few quick questions about what matters to you and we'll point you toward courses worth looking at.

Frequently asked questions

We take your total course cost (tuition plus living expenses over however many years the degree runs) and compare it to the salary premium you're likely to earn in the 5 years after graduating. The result tells you how long before the degree pays for itself and how much extra you're up by at the 5-year mark.

Salary figures come from the HEA Graduate Outcomes Survey, CSO earnings data and published graduate surveys for each field. Where a course has institution-specific data, we use that. Where it doesn't, we use the field-level average and note it.

Completely free, no account needed. Calculate and compare as many courses as you want.

Compare Courses

Add 2 to 5 courses and see their ROI, salary and payback side by side.

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Browse All Courses

Filter and sort all 377 courses by university, field and ROI metrics.

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