In the US, college is so expensive that people are questioning whether it pays off or not. In strictly financial terms, the payoff is a question of subtracting the cost of higher education from lifetime earnings to get your return on Investment (ROI). As you might expect, it’s not a straightforward calculation, since every institution is different in terms of total cost, and every institution, degree, and program leads to different levels of income.

The good news is that FREEOPP, a nonprofit think tank, has tracked down all this information and organized it in a consumable way. They have a calculator for estimating the ROI of an undergraduate degree, based on how much more a student earns, on average, when they graduate from a particular program, minus the total cost of that education. In their cost estimates, they’ve included tuition and fees, books and supplies, and the opportunity loss from not working during the years of education. If you’re like me and want to geek out on the details of FREEOPP’s methodology for creating these estimates, go here.

According to FREEOPP, college is worth it on average, but there are a number of exceptions. It really does depend on which school you attend and which degree you pursue. If you get a bachelor’s degree in fine arts, education, English, or psychology, you’ll typically get a lower payoff than if you got that same degree in a field like computer science, engineering, nursing, or economics. If you’re curious about the ROI of your particular major, go to this page and scroll down to the chart entitled “Not Every Major Has the Same Payoff.” There, you can filter the data by major to see the average ROI of any degree program you might be considering. Or just visit the calculator link in the paragraph above if you want the data for a specific school and degree program.

FREEOPP also covers graduate school, and they found that almost half of master’s programs have no ROI at all, because they tend to cost more than undergraduate programs and don’t have as much upside when it comes to earnings. And yes, that includes MBA programs, so check their ROI tool for graduate school if you’re thinking about a postgraduate degree.

But what if you’re more interested in an alternative educational path? The good news is that FREEOPP has also estimated the ROI of undergraduate certificates in technical trades as well. These certificates tend to have a higher payoff than the median bachelor’s degree. Also be aware that associate degrees in education, liberal arts, or general studies tend to have no payoff at all.

Some of this sounds a bit ominous, right? These median ROI numbers might scare students away from fields like psychology or liberal arts, or from master’s programs. But it’s important to dive into the tools before you decide on any particular program, because you’ll find that certain schools have much higher ROI numbers than others for certain programs and degrees.

As you get into the tools, keep in mind that if it takes you longer to complete your degree than the tool has estimated, your ROI will go down due to the additional cost of the education as well as the additional year outside the labor force. But if you want to really destroy your ROI, drop out before you finish your degree. This means you’ve paid all that money to attend, spent all that time out of the workforce, and yet you’ll never realize the potential bump in pay from the degree itself. FREEOPP estimates that if you drop out of an undergraduate program, your average ROI will be negative $99k. Yes, you’ll be nearly $100k in the hole. Yikes!

To keep costs down and increase ROI, you might consider alternative paths to a college degree. For example, most students are aware that they can start at a community college to fulfill some of their general education requirements, and then transfer to a four-year college to complete their degree. A lot of state-run colleges will offer guaranteed admission to their state’s community college students, so check on the requirements for the schools you’re interested in. You might also check out international college programs, some of which offer free or lower-cost tuition.

Alternatively, students can knock out some of their general education before they even get to college, via an online platform like Sophia.org, StraighterLine.com, or Study.com. The College Level Exam Preparation (CLEP) program also offers credit-by-exam programs which allow high school students to get postsecondary credits by taking an exam to demonstrate knowledge of a topic (Advanced Placement is an example).

There are also accelerated programs like Purdue Global and Boston U’s Metropolitan College, which allow students to get a degree more quickly, and thus at a lower cost. In addition, programs like Western Governors University offer competency-based degree programs, meaning that students can move forward based on their knowledge of a subject rather than the amount of time spent in class. That might also save some time and money.

To finish up, I’d like to point out that schooling doesn’t have to be “worth it” in a financial sense to be worth it at all. There are nonfinancial benefits to pursuing education past high school, including personal development and a sense of achievement. Postsecondary education can teach you critical thinking skills and expand your horizons. And according to research conducted by the College Board, higher levels of education are associated with more community involvement and higher rates of exercise.

As I often say, it’s not all about the numbers. If you want to pursue a particular degree at a particular institution for nonfinancial reasons, have at it! Just go into it with that knowledge. Maybe you’ll even make some tweaks to your educational path based on some of the options above. And for the rest of you, I hope this information helps you maximize your higher-education ROI.