Best Value / By Major

Best Value Colleges for Agriculture, General

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

44

Schools Ranked

$35,456

Avg. Earnings

4.2 yrs

Best Payback

2,048

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	University of Nebraska-Lincoln Lincoln, NE · Public	$15,394	$49,644	4.2 yrs
2	University of Maryland-College Park College Park, MD · Public	$17,360	$50,439	4.5 yrs
3	Northwest Missouri State University Maryville, MO · Public	$12,127	$43,798	5.5 yrs
4	West Texas A & M University Canyon, TX · Public	$14,196	$44,384	6.1 yrs
5	California State University-Chico Chico, CA · Public	$16,738	$45,128	6.6 yrs
6	Sam Houston State University Huntsville, TX · Public	$14,927	$44,091	6.6 yrs
7	Texas A&M University-College Station College Station, TX · Public	$17,525	$45,383	6.8 yrs
8	Illinois State University Normal, IL · Public	$19,293	$44,542	8.1 yrs
9	Texas Tech University Lubbock, TX · Public	$15,248	$41,937	8.8 yrs
10	Southern Illinois University-Carbondale Carbondale, IL · Public	$14,499	$41,295	9.2 yrs
11	East Texas A&M University Commerce, TX · Public	$14,768	$40,318	11.1 yrs
12	Western Illinois University Macomb, IL · Public	$15,794	$40,555	11.4 yrs
13	South Dakota State University Brookings, SD · Public	$18,826	$39,369	17.2 yrs
14	Texas State University San Marcos, TX · Public	$12,996	$37,748	18.9 yrs
15	Dickinson State University Dickinson, ND · Public	$13,283	$37,748	19.3 yrs
16	Southern University and A & M College Baton Rouge, LA · Public	$18,825	$38,829	19.7 yrs
17	Cornell University Ithaca, NY · Private	$9,785	$36,848	21.2 yrs
18	Tennessee Technological University Cookeville, TN · Public	$17,588	$38,289	21.4 yrs
19	Texas A&M University-Kingsville Kingsville, TX · Public	$13,939	$37,424	23 yrs
20	McNeese State University Lake Charles, LA · Public	$11,651	$35,594	78.5 yrs
21	California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo San Luis Obispo, CA · Public	$17,340	$33,281	N/A
22	University of Delaware Newark, DE · Public	$17,260	$33,281	N/A
23	Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Blacksburg, VA · Public	$18,372	$30,409	N/A
24	Oregon State University Corvallis, OR · Public	$21,716	$31,314	N/A
25	Oregon State University-Cascades Campus Bend, OR · Public	$20,523	$31,314	N/A
26	Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus University Park, PA · Public	$27,137	$27,048	N/A
27	Delaware State University Dover, DE · Public	$15,815	$28,309	N/A
28	Truman State University Kirksville, MO · Public	$12,654	$33,281	N/A
29	Western Kentucky University Bowling Green, KY · Public	$17,490	$32,620	N/A
30	University of Missouri-Columbia Columbia, MO · Public	$13,715	$32,925	N/A
31	Prairie View A & M University Prairie View, TX · Public	$16,916	$26,625	N/A
32	The University of Tennessee-Martin Martin, TN · Public	$13,804	$34,244	N/A
33	North Carolina A & T State University Greensboro, NC · Public	$12,647	$29,685	N/A
34	Missouri State University-Springfield Springfield, MO · Public	$15,950	$33,281	N/A
35	Morehead State University Morehead, KY · Public	$13,087	$29,202	N/A
36	Austin Peay State University Clarksville, TN · Public	$16,859	$27,403	N/A
37	University of Hawaii at Hilo Hilo, HI · Public	$13,873	$32,711	N/A
38	Tennessee State University Nashville, TN · Public	$12,563	$31,305	N/A
39	University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez Mayaguez, PR · Public	$11,994	$30,771	N/A
40	Fort Hays State University Hays, KS · Public	$13,208	$33,993	N/A
41	University of Wisconsin-River Falls River Falls, WI · Public	$14,528	$33,993	N/A
42	Southern Utah University Cedar City, UT · Public	$13,460	$32,925	N/A
43	Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University Tallahassee, FL · Public	$15,705	$30,409	N/A
44	Berea College Berea, KY · Private	$6,551	$18,315	N/A

Top Earners in Agriculture, General

See schools ranked by earnings alone, without considering cost.

Best Value Rankings

Explore best value colleges across all majors and categories.

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.