What Do ROI, Salary, and Financial Aid Look Like for MCPHS Students?

Updated

MCPHS presents three headline numbers on its site: a #5 national ranking for return on investment (ROI) among 4,600 colleges, a top-10 national ranking for median salary, and a 90% financial aid rate. Together they frame the school's value proposition as strong earnings outcomes paired with broad aid coverage. What the site does not publish is tuition, average aid amounts, or net price, so those figures need to come from the financial aid office or the Department of Education's net price calculator before you can judge affordability for your own situation.

Return on investment: what the #5 ranking means

The ROI claim comes from a Georgetown University study that ranked MCPHS fifth in the U.S. among 4,600 colleges. Two things are worth knowing about a ranking like this:

  • It is a comparison, not a promise. A #5 placement means MCPHS graduates fared well relative to peers in that study's methodology, not that any individual student will see the same return.
  • ROI depends on your inputs. The calculation typically weighs earnings against cost of attendance. Since MCPHS does not list tuition on the page, your personal ROI depends on your aid package, program length, and starting salary in your field.

If ROI is the deciding factor for you, ask admissions for the net price you would actually pay after aid, then compare it against median early-career salaries for your intended profession.

Salary outcomes: top-10 median salary

MCPHS states it is ranked in the top 10 universities nationally for median salary, ahead of other premier institutions. The site also cites a $126k figure under the heading "MCPHS Produces Top Earners."

A few cautions when reading these numbers:

  • Median salary is a midpoint across all graduates, not a starting salary for a specific major. Nursing, optometry, physician assistant studies, and occupational therapy have very different pay trajectories.
  • The $126k figure is not labeled by year or career stage on the page, so treat it as a reported highlight rather than a guaranteed outcome.
  • Health sciences salaries often rise with licensure and experience, so early-career earnings may look different from the median.

The practical move is to look up median earnings for your specific program, not the university-wide figure.

Financial aid: the 90% figure

MCPHS reports that 90% of its students receive financial aid, and describes "collaborative financial planning with students and their families." That combination suggests aid is the norm rather than the exception, and that the office works with families individually.

What the page does not say:

  • Whether aid is need-based, merit-based, or both
  • Average grant or scholarship amounts
  • Whether the 90% includes federal loans, which most students can borrow regardless of need

Because of that, "90% receive aid" tells you aid is common but not how much of the cost it covers. Ask directly: what is the average need-based grant, and what does the typical package look like for a student in my program?

How to turn these numbers into a decision

  1. Request your net price. Ask the financial aid office for an estimated package based on your FAFSA information.
  2. Compare against program-specific salaries. Use median earnings for your intended field, not the university-wide figure.
  3. Check the safety and campus context if location matters to you — MCPHS notes a #2 safest campus ranking in Massachusetts from Niche for 2026.
  4. Visit before committing. The site lists Boston undergraduate fall open house dates (October 25 and November 14) where you can meet faculty, students, and admissions counselors.

The headline rankings are a reasonable starting point for a conversation with the school. They are not a substitute for your own net price and program-level salary data.