Without any financial aid, a family could easily spend well over $240,000 on a collegian’s education.

Forbes reports.

Can Parents Measure The ROI Of College Tuition?

Sarah Lawrence, at $61,236 per year, tops the list of the fifty most expensive colleges in the United States. Middlebury, at the low end of the fifty, costs $59,950. That’s just tuition, room and board, without counting all the other expenses. like travel, textbooks, computers, fees and dorm room accoutrements, which these days go far beyond a few hip posters and cheap tie-dyed bedspreads to include TVs, video game controllers, refrigerators, microwaves and cable subscriptions. (I’ve seen dorm rooms, suites, really, as well appointed as some better than average apartments in Chicago.) Without any financial aid, a family could easily spend well over $240,000 on a collegian’s education.

The prospect of this kind of outlay has prompted more and more discussion of how to value a college education in the last few years. Most often, it surfaces as return on investment, the idea being that whatever you put in financially should earn something on the other end. If you “invest” $120,000 in your child’s education, what will you get back? Financially, the answer is really “nothing,” since the benefit goes to the institution you’re paying and, ultimately, to your child, with the expectation that he or she will enhance future earning power with a college degree.