Best Value / By Major

Best Value Colleges for Accounting and Related Services

Schools ranked by payback period — how quickly you recoup your investment through higher earnings.

50

Schools Ranked

$47,492

Avg. Earnings

<1 yr

Best Payback

60,026

Graduates

How we calculate value: Payback = (4 years of net price) / (major earnings - $35k baseline). A 2-year payback means you recoup your investment in 2 years through higher earnings vs. not attending college.

#	School	Net Price/yr	Major Earnings	Payback
1	McDaniel College Westminster, MD · Private	$729	$55,693	<1 yr
2	Washington and Lee University Lexington, VA · Private	$6,505	$66,449	<1 yr
3	Georgetown University Washington, DC · Private	$12,505	$77,715	1.2 yrs
4	University of Connecticut-Avery Point Groton, CT · Public	$9,414	$62,524	1.4 yrs
5	University of Washington-Tacoma Campus Tacoma, WA · Public	$8,147	$57,692	1.4 yrs
6	University of Connecticut-Waterbury Campus Waterbury, CT · Public	$10,112	$62,524	1.5 yrs
7	University of Connecticut-Hartford Campus Hartford, CT · Public	$10,515	$62,524	1.5 yrs
8	University of Wisconsin-Madison Madison, WI · Public	$10,364	$62,343	1.5 yrs
9	Purdue University-Main Campus West Lafayette, IN · Public	$8,450	$56,867	1.5 yrs
10	University of Washington-Seattle Campus Seattle, WA · Public	$8,393	$57,692	1.5 yrs
11	University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Champaign, IL · Public	$11,505	$64,493	1.6 yrs
12	California State University-Northridge Northridge, CA · Public	$10,780	$61,207	1.6 yrs
13	University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, IN · Private	$14,020	$68,289	1.7 yrs
14	Brigham Young University Provo, UT · Private	$12,676	$65,524	1.7 yrs
15	University of Washington-Bothell Campus Bothell, WA · Public	$9,439	$57,692	1.7 yrs
16	Brigham Young University-Idaho Rexburg, ID · Private	$5,422	$47,260	1.8 yrs
17	CUNY Bernard M Baruch College New York, NY · Public	$7,187	$50,105	1.9 yrs
18	Boston College Chestnut Hill, MA · Private	$17,098	$69,937	2 yrs
19	University of Richmond University of Richmond, VA · Private	$16,063	$66,355	2 yrs
20	University of Minnesota-Twin Cities Minneapolis, MN · Public	$12,911	$60,594	2 yrs
21	Albion College Albion, MI · Private	$14,717	$62,632	2.1 yrs
22	Lehigh University Bethlehem, PA · Private	$19,026	$70,324	2.2 yrs
23	University of Connecticut-Stamford Stamford, CT · Public	$15,152	$62,524	2.2 yrs
24	Oakland University Rochester Hills, MI · Public	$12,008	$56,544	2.2 yrs
25	CUNY Medgar Evers College Brooklyn, NY · Public	$10,412	$53,984	2.2 yrs
26	The University of Texas Permian Basin Odessa, TX · Public	$10,549	$53,894	2.2 yrs
27	University of Massachusetts-Amherst Amherst, MA · Public	$16,667	$63,646	2.3 yrs
28	University of Florida Gainesville, FL · Public	$8,394	$49,644	2.3 yrs
29	Florida International University Miami, FL · Public	$7,292	$47,440	2.3 yrs
30	Northern Kentucky University Highland Heights, KY · Public	$9,505	$51,781	2.3 yrs
31	University of Maryland-College Park College Park, MD · Public	$17,360	$64,387	2.4 yrs
32	Ohio State University-Main Campus Columbus, OH · Public	$13,273	$57,149	2.4 yrs
33	University of Wisconsin-La Crosse La Crosse, WI · Public	$13,198	$57,159	2.4 yrs
34	University of Delaware Newark, DE · Public	$17,260	$62,491	2.5 yrs
35	Northern Illinois University Dekalb, IL · Public	$13,778	$57,318	2.5 yrs
36	University of Alaska Anchorage Anchorage, AK · Public	$12,985	$55,840	2.5 yrs
37	University of Arkansas-Fort Smith Fort Smith, AR · Public	$10,326	$51,392	2.5 yrs
38	Texas A&M University-College Station College Station, TX · Public	$17,525	$62,064	2.6 yrs
39	The University of Texas at Austin Austin, TX · Public	$16,134	$59,169	2.7 yrs
40	Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Blacksburg, VA · Public	$18,372	$62,632	2.7 yrs
41	University of Arizona Tucson, AZ · Public	$13,644	$55,211	2.7 yrs
42	Florida State University Tallahassee, FL · Public	$11,506	$51,880	2.7 yrs
43	Rutgers University-Camden Camden, NJ · Public	$15,952	$58,382	2.7 yrs
44	San Diego State University San Diego, CA · Public	$14,698	$56,415	2.7 yrs
45	University of Wyoming Laramie, WY · Public	$9,394	$49,019	2.7 yrs
46	Fairleigh Dickinson University-Metropolitan Campus Teaneck, NJ · Private	$15,022	$56,641	2.8 yrs
47	California State University-San Marcos San Marcos, CA · Public	$14,309	$55,286	2.8 yrs
48	Western Connecticut State University Danbury, CT · Public	$16,376	$57,995	2.8 yrs
49	University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh Oshkosh, WI · Public	$14,157	$54,904	2.8 yrs
50	Saint Cloud State University Saint Cloud, MN · Public	$13,140	$53,608	2.8 yrs

Top Earners in Accounting and Related Services

See schools ranked by earnings alone, without considering cost.

Best Value Rankings

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Payback uses earnings by major from the College Scorecard's field-of-study file, last updated June 2026, against net price from the June 2026 release. Scorecard publishes the two separately, so they are different vintages.