Best ROI Colleges for $110k+ Income

Ranked by 10-year net financial gain using Monte Carlo simulation (10,000 scenarios per school). Results use actual earnings distributions and net price for families earning over $110,000.

$0–30k $30–48k $48–75k $75–110k $110k+

1,499

Schools Simulated

763%

#1 Median ROI

$332k

#1 Net Gain

68.2%

Avg P(Positive ROI)

How this works: We run 10,000 Monte Carlo simulations per school. Each simulation randomly samples earnings from actual percentile data (10th–90th), accounts for graduation probability, and varies time-to-degree. Net gain = (simulated earnings − $35k baseline) × 10 years − total cost. Try the interactive calculator →

Top 100 Best ROI Schools

#	School	Net Price/yr	Median Earnings	Median ROI	Net Gain (10yr)	If You Graduate
1	United States Merchant Marine Academy NY · Public	$9,565	$83k	+763%	+$332k	427% → 1892%
2	Franklin W Olin College of Engineering MA · Private	$35,262	$133k	+471%	+$750k	214% → 809%
3	Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus GA · Public	$18,916	$88k	+452%	+$383k	173% → 876%
4	University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy in St. Louis MO · Private	$29,693	$122k	+388%	+$517k	181% → 703%
5	Massachusetts Maritime Academy MA · Public	$24,835	$92k	+330%	+$367k	170% → 700%
6	Massachusetts Institute of Technology MA · Private	$41,635	$111k	+294%	+$543k	73% → 638%
7	University of Florida FL · Public	$13,561	$64k	+285%	+$173k	-2% → 888%
8	Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences NY · Private	$34,166	$119k	+252%	+$393k	144% → 605%
9	University of Pennsylvania PA · Private	$43,447	$103k	+241%	+$461k	46% → 628%
10	California Institute of Technology CA · Private	$44,926	$112k	+234%	+$476k	46% → 557%
11	Princeton University NJ · Private	$41,011	$96k	+234%	+$419k	-7% → 634%
12	University of Michigan-Ann Arbor MI · Public	$26,491	$76k	+226%	+$265k	20% → 532%
13	Harvey Mudd College CA · Private	$50,919	$109k	+200%	+$447k	42% → 424%
14	Colorado School of Mines CO · Public	$33,480	$90k	+199%	+$301k	66% → 471%
15	Yale University CT · Private	$39,675	$89k	+193%	+$335k	25% → 517%
16	Stanford University CA · Private	$46,746	$98k	+192%	+$389k	24% → 567%
17	Babson College MA · Private	$51,309	$107k	+189%	+$436k	0% → 443%
18	Bentley University MA · Private	$50,161	$108k	+179%	+$406k	54% → 342%
19	University of California-Berkeley CA · Public	$33,896	$80k	+178%	+$267k	7% → 499%
20	University of Virginia-Main Campus VA · Public	$31,495	$77k	+172%	+$242k	1% → 444%
21	Stevens Institute of Technology NJ · Private	$44,590	$98k	+169%	+$346k	73% → 344%
22	Harvard University MA · Private	$42,312	$85k	+168%	+$307k	15% → 558%
23	Columbia University in the City of New York NY · Private	$44,438	$90k	+166%	+$324k	-1% → 454%
24	University of Notre Dame IN · Private	$44,972	$89k	+165%	+$332k	16% → 375%
25	California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo CA · Public	$27,740	$81k	+164%	+$206k	14% → 485%
26	Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology IN · Private	$43,001	$94k	+164%	+$324k	84% → 302%
27	Mississippi Valley State University MS · Public	$6,652	$30k	+163%	+$22k	-100% → 208%
28	Maine Maritime Academy ME · Public	$21,462	$73k	+161%	+$159k	76% → 788%
29	Duke University NC · Private	$49,939	$93k	+158%	+$344k	9% → 442%
30	Carnegie Mellon University PA · Private	$52,564	$100k	+157%	+$367k	7% → 400%
31	University of Florida-Online FL · Public	$12,428	$64k	+156%	+$89k	28% → 1037%
32	Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University VA · Public	$26,368	$73k	+156%	+$189k	2% → 435%
33	Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute NY · Private	$43,003	$93k	+154%	+$307k	47% → 340%
34	Washington and Lee University VA · Private	$42,003	$86k	+153%	+$284k	12% → 428%
35	MCPHS University MA · Private	$40,978	$118k	+150%	+$278k	107% → 487%
36	University of California-Los Angeles CA · Public	$30,321	$74k	+150%	+$200k	-10% → 446%
37	SUNY Maritime College NY · Public	$24,524	$84k	+149%	+$163k	78% → 631%
38	Georgetown University DC · Private	$50,627	$96k	+148%	+$335k	8% → 413%
39	University of Maryland-College Park MD · Public	$26,001	$72k	+147%	+$173k	13% → 463%
40	Johns Hopkins University MD · Private	$40,792	$83k	+146%	+$268k	18% → 366%
41	University of California-San Diego CA · Public	$29,132	$75k	+143%	+$190k	-3% → 461%
42	Claremont McKenna College CA · Private	$43,248	$87k	+140%	+$270k	13% → 388%
43	Boston College MA · Private	$50,368	$93k	+135%	+$304k	13% → 378%
44	CUNY Bernard M Baruch College NY · Public	$12,274	$67k	+134%	+$76k	15% → 968%
45	University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign IL · Public	$27,285	$72k	+133%	+$164k	4% → 433%
46	Northwestern University IL · Private	$41,660	$80k	+132%	+$236k	1% → 416%
47	Methodist College IL · Private	$29,504	$66k	+131%	+$176k	12% → 276%
48	University of Georgia GA · Public	$17,971	$60k	+131%	+$108k	-43% → 546%
49	Worcester Polytechnic Institute MA · Private	$46,023	$89k	+131%	+$276k	39% → 268%
50	Dartmouth College NH · Private	$52,251	$92k	+130%	+$295k	3% → 411%
51	Vanderbilt University TN · Private	$40,509	$80k	+129%	+$231k	-9% → 381%
52	Binghamton University NY · Public	$26,047	$73k	+128%	+$150k	-10% → 470%
53	Bryant University RI · Private	$42,547	$91k	+128%	+$245k	46% → 314%
54	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill NC · Public	$22,881	$62k	+127%	+$132k	-23% → 476%
55	Virginia Military Institute VA · Public	$27,394	$72k	+127%	+$159k	-14% → 332%
56	Fairfield University CT · Private	$40,878	$86k	+124%	+$229k	40% → 346%
57	Purdue University-Main Campus IN · Public	$20,859	$65k	+123%	+$116k	-24% → 523%
58	The University of Texas at Austin TX · Public	$25,888	$68k	+122%	+$145k	-20% → 467%
59	Cornell University NY · Private	$52,887	$91k	+120%	+$281k	-6% → 354%
60	University of Wisconsin-Madison WI · Public	$25,436	$65k	+119%	+$137k	-9% → 406%
61	Brown University RI · Private	$44,033	$79k	+118%	+$223k	-17% → 396%
62	Missouri University of Science and Technology MO · Public	$15,983	$80k	+118%	+$91k	113% → 784%
63	Washington University in St Louis MO · Private	$46,759	$83k	+116%	+$240k	-5% → 333%
64	Santa Clara University CA · Private	$53,699	$93k	+114%	+$280k	-8% → 287%
65	Villanova University PA · Private	$53,419	$91k	+112%	+$267k	11% → 263%
66	Kettering University MI · Private	$37,590	$94k	+111%	+$203k	106% → 336%
67	Milwaukee School of Engineering WI · Private	$30,042	$81k	+110%	+$154k	75% → 377%
68	Rice University TX · Private	$42,730	$78k	+109%	+$204k	-16% → 387%
69	University of Washington-Seattle Campus WA · Public	$25,264	$69k	+107%	+$119k	-23% → 469%
70	New Jersey Institute of Technology NJ · Public	$24,952	$80k	+106%	+$121k	70% → 504%
71	University of Delaware DE · Public	$25,409	$67k	+102%	+$117k	-7% → 383%
72	Lafayette College PA · Private	$49,560	$85k	+101%	+$227k	20% → 248%
73	University of California-Irvine CA · Public	$29,802	$72k	+101%	+$134k	-20% → 385%
74	Louisiana State University-Alexandria LA · Public	$8,731	$36k	+100%	+$18k	-100% → 377%
75	University of Chicago IL · Private	$46,267	$77k	+96%	+$190k	-27% → 352%
76	University of Connecticut CT · Public	$30,060	$72k	+96%	+$131k	-21% → 364%
77	Swarthmore College PA · Private	$43,586	$73k	+94%	+$176k	-24% → 270%
78	Universidad Adventista de las Antillas PR · Private	$9,027	$28k	+94%	+$17k	-100% → 41%
79	Northeastern University MA · Private	$43,276	$80k	+93%	+$181k	-18% → 259%
80	Manhattan University NY · Private	$32,596	$83k	+92%	+$139k	55% → 399%
81	Davidson College NC · Private	$40,636	$72k	+90%	+$161k	-11% → 319%
82	Illinois Institute of Technology IL · Private	$29,783	$78k	+90%	+$121k	42% → 410%
83	Lehigh University PA · Private	$61,351	$95k	+90%	+$247k	4% → 234%
84	College of the Holy Cross MA · Private	$51,523	$85k	+89%	+$210k	-23% → 255%
85	Clemson University SC · Public	$24,808	$64k	+87%	+$99k	-52% → 368%
86	University of California-Davis CA · Public	$30,357	$70k	+86%	+$119k	-43% → 397%
87	Clarkson University NY · Private	$35,746	$81k	+85%	+$138k	17% → 321%
88	Colgate University NY · Private	$45,682	$76k	+82%	+$163k	-24% → 356%
89	Hamilton College NY · Private	$41,317	$74k	+82%	+$152k	-24% → 305%
90	University of Southern California CA · Private	$52,917	$83k	+82%	+$193k	-33% → 284%
91	Fashion Institute of Technology NY · Public	$16,314	$60k	+79%	+$58k	-100% → 570%
92	North Carolina State University at Raleigh NC · Public	$23,050	$61k	+78%	+$81k	-56% → 393%
93	Texas A & M International University TX · Public	$9,851	$47k	+78%	+$15k	-100% → 476%
94	University of Puerto Rico-Arecibo PR · Public	$9,821	$24k	+78%	+$15k	-100% → -33%
95	Bucknell University PA · Private	$55,823	$88k	+76%	+$194k	-13% → 256%
96	Michigan Technological University MI · Public	$22,086	$74k	+76%	+$78k	-6% → 490%
97	Loyola University Maryland MD · Private	$39,009	$76k	+74%	+$130k	-5% → 301%
98	Bethany College WV · Private	$10,247	$46k	+71%	+$15k	-100% → 574%
99	Texas A&M University-College Station TX · Public	$27,994	$67k	+71%	+$90k	-37% → 393%
100	Marquette University WI · Private	$37,735	$72k	+70%	+$118k	-15% → 263%

10 Worst ROI Schools (for $110k+ income)

Schools where the Monte Carlo simulation suggests negative returns are most likely

School	Net Price/yr	Net Gain (10yr)	P(Positive)
NUC University PR · For-Profit	$18,394	-$113k	1.8%
Bard College at Simon's Rock MA · Private	$72,175	-$109k	17.2%
Concorde Career College-Kansas City MO · For-Profit	$29,803	-$103k	3.1%
California Institute of the Arts CA · Private	$62,385	-$90k	22.5%
Berklee College of Music MA · Private	$59,365	-$84k	12.7%
Beacon College FL · Private	$47,598	-$151k	3.3%
Ringling College of Art and Design FL · Private	$55,227	-$75k	26.8%
Art Center College of Design CA · Private	$54,154	-$73k	39.6%
American Musical and Dramatic Academy NY · Private	$54,967	-$153k	9%
School of Visual Arts NY · For-Profit	$52,894	-$71k	29.1%

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Monte Carlo simulation: 10,000 iterations per school. Earnings sampled from College Scorecard percentiles (10th/25th/50th/75th/90th).

Graduation probability from 6-year IPEDS rates. Baseline: $35k/year (high school graduate median). Net price from College Scorecard by income bracket.