Your college education may well be the largest investment you ever make. Tuition costs are up again this year, as they have been every year in recent memory, and four years of higher education will run up a bill in excess of six figures for many students. Most will take out loans, and many will still be paying on those loans 20 years from now. Yikes.

You see why it's important to pick the right school? In a new twist on college rankings, SmartMoney has put together a list of the Colleges That Pay Off. SmartMoney looks at the cost of a degree at each school, and then the average income of alumni five and 15 years after graduation, then gives each school a payback ratio, which highlights the relationship between education costs and future earning power. A higher number is better.

With a payback ratio of 338%, the University of Georgia tops off the list of public universities. The top private school in the survey was Washington and Lee University, with a 145% payback ratio. Those private school tuitions really make a dent. SmartMoney gave the Ivy League schools their own category, with Princeton topping the list with a 132% ratio. Still think those Ivy League degrees are worth more? If only ego factored into the equation.

The debate rages on over where you go for the best education, but strictly speaking in terms of numbers, it's the public state universities that churn out the highest-paid graduates. The Princeton alum may have the bigger head, but Bulldogs have bigger houses.

It's not news that the annual tuition increase at American colleges and universities always outpaces the rate of inflation. And more bad news comes via Zac Bissonette's blog about a recent report that those hefty hikes threaten to make college unaffordable for most Americans. Unfortunately, that's not a shocker to you, right? I blogged last month that more students should consider community college and trade school. Here's another alternative: college abroad. And not just a semester -- think the entire four years.

Don't laugh. For an article I wrote last year, I interviewed a 22-year-old college grad who just passed the New York Bar Exam and is now a practicing attorney. That's because he chose to get his law degree at Oxford, where his undergrad program included law school and took just three years to finish. He also saved a substantial amount of money. Because Oxford costs $20,000 a year, he paid $60,000 total for college and his law degree. If he had gotten it here, he would have paid $100,000 for four years of undergrad -- and then a ton more for three years of law school.

And that's the norm. Tuition for international students at top universities in the U.K. and Canada are 25 percent to 50 percent less than at U.S. private universities. Students also save time too, shaving at least a year off of undergrad. Travel and living expenses add to the amount, of course, but the total cost is about the same as an out-of-state resident attending state school. The Institute of International Education says a student at Scotland's Unversity of St. Andrews (Prince William's alma mater) pays the same per year -- $13,000 -- as a non-state resident at the University of Virginia. With the dollar climbing against other currencies, it's not as much of a hit to the wallet as compared to a year ago. College is even more affordable in Australia ($11,000) and New Zealand ($9,500). Nearly all U.S. federal loans can be used to pay for school overseas. A good resource for all the information is CollegeAbroad.com.

The California State University system made headlines yesterday when it threatened to cut enrollment by 10,000 students next year if the state didn't front it more money. Chancellor Charles Reed said CSU had to make more cuts to a budget already $215,000 below what it needs, and that it currently serve 10,000 students for whom the state gives no money. But when it comes to top staffers, well, that's a different story. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Reed and his Board of Trustees recently approved salary increases of up to nine percent for nine vice-presidents, and hired 11 more at salaries as high as $225,000.

I'm thinking it's time for a career change to college administration, because these guys have it good. For example, the VP of student affairs at CSU Monterey came on board in February 2007 and less than 18 months later, he gets a $22,500 pay raise, from $117,500 to $140,000. The new vice-chancellor for university relations gets a salary of $240,000, plus another $40,500 to cover brokerage commissions, escrow fees and other costs for selling his home in Sacramento. Wait, is this a state school system or Wall Street these people are working for?

Back on February 16th, Democratic Congressman Paul Kanjorski and 20 other members of his party sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson asking him -- without being specific -- to do something to shore up the student loan market: "We urge you to work without delay ... to address this problem before it significantly decreases access to higher education opportunities for students and their families."

Student lenders have since been insisting that everything is peach in that market but now the first shoe seems to have dropped. The Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency, one of the largest student lending agencies in the country, has announced that it will stop making federal-guaranteed loans starting in early March.

Looking through the news recently, I read that two Ohio students were each sentenced to 20 years in jail for armed robbery. When the Judge asked them why they had committed the crimes, they stated that they needed the cash to pay for school. Apparently, their tuition went up and their scholarships and financial aid were not enough to cover the costs of their education.

It's been a few years since I was in school, but I still have clear memories of the loan shark-style tactics that the university used to get money out of me. I remember being charged for athletic tickets that I never received, health-care that I never used, and buses that I never rode. And then there were the meal plans that I was forced to buy, the overpriced textbooks that I couldn't afford, and the ridiculous parking tickets that I got whenever the student parking lot filled up (which usually happened sometime around 7:30 in the morning). When I didn't pay, the school blocked my account, denying me access to classes, library books, and even food.