When prospective students size up colleges by their sticker prices, they’re only getting a sliver of the full picture, a GW researcher wrote this week.

Instead, students and parents should look at a range of metrics – from expected earnings to which kinds of graduates finish with debt – when deciding between colleges, said Sandy Baum, a higher education finance expert.

Students should also factor in a school’s prestige and alumni network for job searches, Baum said.

“If you don’t learn anything no matter how cheap it is, it doesn’t matter,” Baum said Tuesday. “If it doesn’t increase your earnings over time, then it’s not affordable.”

GW ranked No. 207 for its return on investment in a report released last month, falling behind competitor schools such as Duke and New York universities.

Graduates made an average of $370,000 more than a high school graduate 20 years after completing their degree, according to PayScale. But after factoring in GW’s about $230,500 sticker price, that’s just $7,000 a year more.

Baum, who is also a senior fellow in the Graduate School of Education and Human Development, is also one of about two dozen members on a task force to improve GW’s affordability for low-income students. The move comes after University President Steven Knapp and about 100 other college presidents met at the White House and pledged to tackle the rising cost of attending college.

While GW’s total price tag will break $60,000 next year, the average net price is less than half – about $24,000 a year.

Although GW’s loan-default rate is relatively low at 1.5 percent, the average debt load for graduates was $33,399 in 2012, according to the most recent data.