Best Value Colleges for Agricultural Mechanization
Schools ranked by payback period — how quickly you recoup your investment through higher earnings.
12
Schools Ranked
$48,267
Avg. Earnings
2.5 yrs
Best Payback
342
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 | Major Earnings | Payback |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | University of Missouri-Columbia Columbia, MO · Public | $57,318 | 2.5 yrs |
| 2 | Purdue University-Main Campus West Lafayette, IN · Public | $48,041 | 2.6 yrs |
| 3 | Texas A&M University-College Station College Station, TX · Public | $61,516 | 2.6 yrs |
| 4 | Iowa State University Ames, IA · Public | $55,693 | 2.8 yrs |
| 5 | University of Nebraska-Lincoln Lincoln, NE · Public | $55,286 | 3 yrs |
| 6 | North Dakota State University-Main Campus Fargo, ND · Public | $52,107 | 3.8 yrs |
| 7 | Sam Houston State University Huntsville, TX · Public | $49,436 | 4.1 yrs |
| 8 | Kansas State University Manhattan, KS · Public | $49,019 | 4.8 yrs |
| 9 | South Dakota State University Brookings, SD · Public | $47,520 | 6 yrs |
| 10 | University of Minnesota-Crookston Crookston, MN · Public | $40,485 | 6.6 yrs |
| 11 | North Carolina State University at Raleigh Raleigh, NC · Public | $41,007 | 9.6 yrs |
| 12 | University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez Mayaguez, PR · Public | $21,781 | N/A |
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.