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The New ROI Test for Online Degrees: What Should Students Actually Measure?

Judging whether or not an online degree is worth undertaking is about much more than just the potential salary.

People in Ohio who are looking at undertaking an online Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) program can often fall into the habit of thinking that it's easy to understand the cost/benefit analysis of going through such a program. It might seem like the return on investment from such an online degree is simple to calculate. The tuition costs are neatly laid out, and the average salary for a pharmacist is easy enough to find.

But that doesn't tell the whole story, and undertaking a degree, especially a PharmD, is about a lot more than simply what you might get paid when working at the end of it.

PharmD degrees are tied to practical training, licensure and a very specific career path. In Ohio, pharmacist applicants must graduate from a program that is recognized and approved by the State Board of Pharmacy, pass required examinations and satisfy practical-experience requirements.

For any students looking at undertaking online PharmD programs in Ohio, the ROI should be measured not just in the salary figures you could potentially make afterwards, nor by the price of tuition. It must take into account everything else that the degree will incorporate.

Start with the Full Cost

To start with, students should look past the tuition fees and at the real, full cost of going through a PharmD. This means that they should consider costs associated with technology needs, books, fees, transport to activities that must be in-person, as well as any potential lost income from hours not worked while studying. It's true that an online PharmD program could cut some of those costs down, and that should be factored in, but it should not be taken as rote that an online program is cheaper; you should always run the numbers.

Students should also think of the potential opportunity cost of committing to years of study. A proper comparison of the cost of study should involve not only the full cost of the degree, but also take into account the potential career and income opportunities that are being sacrificed to commit to the degree.

Check the Path to Licensure the Degree Offers

For a degree like PharmD, one of the most crucial parts is that it not only provides the degree, but that it also gives the student movement towards actually becoming a pharmacist.

In Ohio, that means that it should be a pharmacy program that has accreditation or candidate status from the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), as well as meeting the licensure requirements around examinations and practical experience. A degree must meet these requirements to be valuable to students in Ohio.

Students should therefore pay attention to exactly how an online degree will deal with pharmacy internships, preparations for licensure and experiential education. Good degrees will tie in with the state's formal pharmacy internship program.

Investigate Outcomes, Not Just Starting Salaries

Naturally, the compensation that you will get after completing your degree is a big part of how you should calculate your ROI. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, pharmacists had a national median annual wage of $140,910 as of May 2025. But finding locally relevant data can change those figures; O*NET reports that the average annual wage for pharmacists in Ohio is actually closer to $137,020.

While finding numbers like these is a useful part of calculating your potential ROI, students should understand that they are not guaranteed outcomes and should not be treated as such. The places that graduates work and how their careers develop can have significant impacts on the potential ROI of a degree.

Pharmacists can work in a hospital pharmacy, community pharmacy, managed care, ambulatory care, industry, and other settings, all of which have different sets of responsibilities and career trajectories.

An effective ROI should include an analysis of whether or not a program will provide students with the opportunity to explore these areas of pharmacy work, not just what sort of salary can be expected.

Experiential Education Has Economic Value

While online education provides a huge benefit through the use of a virtual classroom, degrees like a PharmD put a lot of emphasis on experiential learning that happens outside of this environment, which should be a strong consideration when calculating the potential ROI.

Pharmacy is often described as an applied profession. Students, therefore, need the opportunities to develop professional judgement, understand medication-use systems, experience the environments in which pharmacists actually work, and to build skills around communicating with patients and healthcare professionals.

This sort of experience should be treated as having its own economic value, as it will not only help students to develop necessary skills, but it can also provide networking opportunities, position students well to pursue employment or postgraduate opportunities, and help to clarify where exactly career interests lie.

Especially in Ohio, where practical experience is part of the qualifying requirements for completing a PharmD, it should be part of the consideration that is made when calculating the potential ROI of a degree.