LendEDU, a national marketplace helping students and parents find transparency for student loans and student loan refinance, has ranked Louisiana Tech University No. 35 in the nation according to its recently released 2016 College Risk-Reward Indicator (CRRI) list.Louisiana Tech has the highest CRRI of any public or private university in Louisiana and is one of only two schools in the state to earn a spot in the Top 100. The University of New Orleans was the other Louisiana institution, coming in at No. 81. Princeton University topped the 2016 list followed by CUNY-Baruch College, CUNY-Queens College, Eastern New Mexico University and California Institute of Technology (Caltech.)“Despite the challenges and uncertainty we’ve faced over the past several years, Louisiana Tech has continued to be successful in providing our students with an excellent return on investment and an outstanding educational value,” said Louisiana Tech University President Les Guice. “Good students want to attend a university where they’ll earn a diploma that is highly respected and will continue to grow in value throughout their professional careers.“The national recognition we continue to receive for value and ROI is a credit to our faculty and staff, and will help Louisiana Tech to produce the next generation of leaders and innovators for our state and our nation.”LendEDU defines “risk” as the average student loan debt per graduate and “reward” as the average early career pay, or the median salary for alumni with 0-5 years of professional experience. The CRRI is calculated by dividing the measure of reward by the measure of risk and establishing a numerical value. Louisiana Tech achieved a CRRI of 2.79 with average student loan debt per graduate of $16,855 and average annual early career earnings of $47,000.LendEDU compared the CRRI of 1,004 public and private colleges in the United States in determining the 2016 rankings. The average CRRI in the 2016 rankings was 1.677 meaning that the average early career pay will be about 67 percent higher than student loan debt upon graduation. Data from PayScale.com’s College Salary Report was used to determine the measure of reward while data for the risk measure came primarily from the Institute for College Access & Success (TICAS.)The ranking from LendEDU is the latest national recognition for Louisiana Tech and yet another accolade for providing students and graduates with a superior value and return on their educational investment. In March 2015, PayScale.com’s College ROI Report ranked Louisiana Tech No. 1 in the State of Louisiana among all public and private institutions in overall return on investment (ROI) for both in-state and out-of-state students. It also ranked Louisiana Tech No. 13 in the nation (in-state tuition) in highest annual percent ROI for students living on-campus and receiving financial aid.Kiplinger, the nation’s most recognized publisher of business forecasts and personal finance advice, ranked Louisiana Tech No. 1 in the state and No. 66 in the nation for in-state students at public institutions, in its Best College Values 2016 report released this past December. Louisiana Tech also ranked No. 1 in Louisiana among public universities for out-of-state students and No. 80 nationally.LendEDU’s 2016 College Risk-Reward Indicators listing can be found at https://lendedu.com/blog/college-risk-reward-indicator