Best Value / By Major

Best Value Colleges for Biological and Physical Sciences

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

37

Schools Ranked

$31,463

Avg. Earnings

10.2 yrs

Best Payback

3,076

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 Notre Dame Notre Dame, IN · Private	$14,020	$40,485	10.2 yrs
2	University of Northern Iowa Cedar Falls, IA · Public	$15,287	$39,909	12.5 yrs
3	University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Stevens Point, WI · Public	$13,560	$39,009	13.5 yrs
4	Grand Valley State University Allendale, MI · Public	$15,277	$35,996	61.4 yrs
5	Indiana University of Pennsylvania-Main Campus Indiana, PA · Public	$22,726	$33,459	N/A
6	Fordham University Bronx, NY · Private	$31,221	$21,781	N/A
7	Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Erie-Behrend College Erie, PA · Public	$21,255	$32,854	N/A
8	Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Scranton Dunmore, PA · Public	$16,841	$32,854	N/A
9	Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Berks Reading, PA · Public	$22,967	$32,854	N/A
10	Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Harrisburg Middletown, PA · Public	$22,395	$32,854	N/A
11	Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus University Park, PA · Public	$27,137	$32,854	N/A
12	Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Abington Abington, PA · Public	$20,421	$32,854	N/A
13	Pennsylvania State University-Penn State York York, PA · Public	$16,993	$32,854	N/A
14	Pennsylvania State University-World Campus University Park, PA · Public	$19,223	$32,854	N/A
15	Washington State University Pullman, WA · Public	$14,233	$33,281	N/A
16	CUNY Hunter College New York, NY · Public	$6,908	$33,138	N/A
17	University of Pittsburgh-Greensburg Greensburg, PA · Public	$15,996	$26,519	N/A
18	University of Pittsburgh-Johnstown Johnstown, PA · Public	$17,271	$26,519	N/A
19	University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh Campus Pittsburgh, PA · Public	$24,139	$26,519	N/A
20	Virginia Commonwealth University Richmond, VA · Public	$18,553	$32,245	N/A
21	University of Oregon Eugene, OR · Public	$16,014	$32,391	N/A
22	University of Georgia Athens, GA · Public	$15,037	$21,166	N/A
23	Portland State University Portland, OR · Public	$12,964	$27,301	N/A
24	University of Houston-Downtown Houston, TX · Public	$15,426	$33,993	N/A
25	Middle Tennessee State University Murfreesboro, TN · Public	$14,498	$28,236	N/A
26	Whitworth University Spokane, WA · Private	$21,629	$25,194	N/A
27	University of Alaska Anchorage Anchorage, AK · Public	$12,985	$29,685	N/A
28	The Evergreen State College Olympia, WA · Public	$16,404	$24,730	N/A
29	Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Altoona Altoona, PA · Public	$22,436	$32,854	N/A
30	Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Brandywine Media, PA · Public	$21,599	$32,854	N/A
31	Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Hazleton Hazleton, PA · Public	$17,365	$32,854	N/A
32	Shawnee State University Portsmouth, OH · Public	$11,104	$30,771	N/A
33	Saint Anselm College Manchester, NH · Private	$22,890	$29,685	N/A
34	Fairleigh Dickinson University-Metropolitan Campus Teaneck, NJ · Private	$15,022	$29,685	N/A
35	University of South Florida Tampa, FL · Public	$9,669	$28,598	N/A
36	Georgetown University Washington, DC · Private	$12,505	$27,476	N/A
37	Western Washington University Bellingham, WA · Public	$16,819	$16,874	N/A

Top Earners in Biological and Physical Sciences

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.