Best Value / By Major

Best Value Colleges for Aerospace, Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering

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

50

Schools Ranked

$64,885

Avg. Earnings

<1 yr

Best Payback

4,129

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	Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, MA · Private	$2,834	$83,177	<1 yr
2	University of Washington-Seattle Campus Seattle, WA · Public	$8,393	$67,995	1 yrs
3	University of Florida Gainesville, FL · Public	$8,394	$68,965	1 yrs
4	University of Michigan-Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, MI · Public	$10,481	$70,736	1.2 yrs
5	Purdue University-Main Campus West Lafayette, IN · Public	$8,450	$63,643	1.2 yrs
6	New Mexico State University-Main Campus Las Cruces, NM · Public	$11,116	$71,575	1.2 yrs
7	University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Champaign, IL · Public	$11,505	$68,219	1.4 yrs
8	West Virginia University Institute of Technology Beckley, WV · Public	$10,775	$65,238	1.4 yrs
9	University of Central Florida Orlando, FL · Public	$9,426	$59,485	1.5 yrs
10	Missouri University of Science and Technology Rolla, MO · Public	$11,656	$64,659	1.6 yrs
11	University of Virginia-Main Campus Charlottesville, VA · Public	$16,019	$74,576	1.6 yrs
12	California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo San Luis Obispo, CA · Public	$17,340	$76,460	1.7 yrs
13	University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, IN · Private	$14,020	$67,995	1.7 yrs
14	California State University-Long Beach Long Beach, CA · Public	$11,189	$60,839	1.7 yrs
15	West Virginia University Morgantown, WV · Public	$13,077	$65,238	1.7 yrs
16	University of Arizona Tucson, AZ · Public	$13,644	$67,660	1.7 yrs
17	Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus Atlanta, GA · Public	$15,415	$69,983	1.8 yrs
18	University of Minnesota-Twin Cities Minneapolis, MN · Public	$12,911	$64,328	1.8 yrs
19	Ohio State University-Main Campus Columbus, OH · Public	$13,273	$63,377	1.9 yrs
20	University of Colorado Boulder Boulder, CO · Public	$18,204	$71,255	2 yrs
21	University of California-Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA · Public	$12,644	$60,072	2 yrs
22	Wichita State University Wichita, KS · Public	$14,581	$64,328	2 yrs
23	San Diego State University San Diego, CA · Public	$14,698	$63,005	2.1 yrs
24	University of Maryland-College Park College Park, MD · Public	$17,360	$67,899	2.1 yrs
25	Iowa State University Ames, IA · Public	$14,641	$62,734	2.1 yrs
26	University of California-Davis Davis, CA · Public	$14,193	$61,516	2.1 yrs
27	San Jose State University San Jose, CA · Public	$17,338	$68,219	2.1 yrs
28	University of Southern California Los Angeles, CA · Private	$22,826	$75,832	2.2 yrs
29	California State Polytechnic University-Pomona Pomona, CA · Public	$15,958	$64,087	2.2 yrs
30	The University of Texas at Austin Austin, TX · Public	$16,134	$63,997	2.2 yrs
31	University of California-San Diego La Jolla, CA · Public	$14,310	$61,218	2.2 yrs
32	Arizona State University Campus Immersion Tempe, AZ · Public	$15,561	$63,501	2.2 yrs
33	Texas A&M University-College Station College Station, TX · Public	$17,525	$66,005	2.3 yrs
34	Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Blacksburg, VA · Public	$18,372	$65,029	2.4 yrs
35	Saint Louis University Saint Louis, MO · Private	$19,225	$66,941	2.4 yrs
36	Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University-Worldwide Daytona Beach, FL · Private	$19,339	$65,080	2.6 yrs
37	University of Oklahoma-Norman Campus Norman, OK · Public	$21,725	$68,666	2.6 yrs
38	Mississippi State University Mississippi State, MS · Public	$18,449	$63,005	2.6 yrs
39	University of California-Irvine Irvine, CA · Public	$13,275	$54,974	2.7 yrs
40	Western Michigan University Kalamazoo, MI · Public	$20,840	$65,945	2.7 yrs
41	North Carolina State University at Raleigh Raleigh, NC · Public	$14,424	$56,415	2.7 yrs
42	Case Western Reserve University Cleveland, OH · Private	$19,864	$63,501	2.8 yrs
43	University of Cincinnati-Main Campus Cincinnati, OH · Public	$20,867	$64,990	2.8 yrs
44	The University of Texas at Arlington Arlington, TX · Public	$15,458	$55,693	3 yrs
45	Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus University Park, PA · Public	$27,137	$67,660	3.3 yrs
46	University of Kansas Lawrence, KS · Public	$18,586	$57,318	3.3 yrs
47	Clarkson University Potsdam, NY · Private	$27,131	$67,748	3.3 yrs
48	University at Buffalo Buffalo, NY · Public	$20,841	$59,485	3.4 yrs
49	Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Troy, NY · Private	$29,788	$69,140	3.5 yrs
50	Auburn University Auburn, AL · Public	$23,468	$61,380	3.6 yrs

Top Earners in Aerospace, Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering

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.