That headline is meant to, I suppose, shock and awe you. Or at least get you mad at those damn college dropouts. (The ones who, upon graduating, are carrying an average of $22,000 in student loan debt and have an 85% chance of moving back in with their parents.)

But I ran the numbers according to their article:

•  21,170 dropped out of state school;
• 14,044 dropped out of private school;
• 247 dropped out of for-profit school.

Divide $178 million by the sum, and you have $5,019.60, rounded up. That’s about the cost of a 2002 Ford Explorer with over 130,000 miles on it. Don’t you think it’s worth the cost of a crappy used car to see if someone can successfully navigate college and, hopefully (I know it doesn’t logically follow) become a “productive” member of society?

Shame on you, BusinessWeek headline writers.