Best Value / By Major

Best Value Colleges for Business Administration, Management and Operations

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

50

Schools Ranked

$42,534

Avg. Earnings

<1 yr

Best Payback

250,560

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	$51,607	<1 yr
2	Rice University Houston, TX · Private	$6,152	$89,530	<1 yr
3	University of Michigan-Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, MI · Public	$10,481	$83,177	<1 yr
4	University of California-Berkeley Berkeley, CA · Public	$13,423	$81,456	1.2 yrs
5	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chapel Hill, NC · Public	$11,619	$73,823	1.2 yrs
6	Maine Maritime Academy Castine, ME · Public	$21,957	$106,421	1.2 yrs
7	Washington and Lee University Lexington, VA · Private	$6,505	$56,641	1.2 yrs
8	William & Mary Williamsburg, VA · Public	$10,995	$65,610	1.4 yrs
9	University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA · Private	$12,020	$67,101	1.5 yrs
10	Georgetown University Washington, DC · Private	$12,505	$69,338	1.5 yrs
11	Emory University Atlanta, GA · Private	$16,646	$77,283	1.6 yrs
12	University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Champaign, IL · Public	$11,505	$63,402	1.6 yrs
13	University of Wisconsin-Madison Madison, WI · Public	$10,364	$61,303	1.6 yrs
14	SUNY Maritime College Throggs Neck, NY · Public	$19,992	$86,129	1.6 yrs
15	University of Minnesota-Crookston Crookston, MN · Public	$9,084	$56,776	1.7 yrs
16	Brigham Young University-Idaho Rexburg, ID · Private	$5,422	$46,924	1.8 yrs
17	Purdue University-Main Campus West Lafayette, IN · Public	$8,450	$54,238	1.8 yrs
18	Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, PA · Private	$21,526	$80,196	1.9 yrs
19	Michigan Technological University Houghton, MI · Public	$11,794	$59,124	2 yrs
20	Cleary University Howell, MI · Private	$16,515	$66,653	2.1 yrs
21	University of Connecticut-Avery Point Groton, CT · Public	$9,414	$52,733	2.1 yrs
22	University of Alaska Southeast Juneau, AK · Public	$10,534	$55,383	2.1 yrs
23	Brigham Young University Provo, UT · Private	$12,676	$58,286	2.2 yrs
24	Oakland University Rochester Hills, MI · Public	$12,008	$57,318	2.2 yrs
25	Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus Atlanta, GA · Public	$15,415	$61,714	2.3 yrs
26	University of Minnesota-Twin Cities Minneapolis, MN · Public	$12,911	$57,564	2.3 yrs
27	University of Connecticut-Waterbury Campus Waterbury, CT · Public	$10,112	$52,733	2.3 yrs
28	Boston College Chestnut Hill, MA · Private	$17,098	$63,997	2.4 yrs
29	California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo San Luis Obispo, CA · Public	$17,340	$64,328	2.4 yrs
30	University of Washington-Tacoma Campus Tacoma, WA · Public	$8,147	$48,687	2.4 yrs
31	University of Connecticut-Hartford Campus Hartford, CT · Public	$10,515	$52,733	2.4 yrs
32	CUNY Bernard M Baruch College New York, NY · Public	$7,187	$46,820	2.4 yrs
33	Ohio State University-Main Campus Columbus, OH · Public	$13,273	$56,327	2.5 yrs
34	University of Washington-Seattle Campus Seattle, WA · Public	$8,393	$48,687	2.5 yrs
35	Post University Waterbury, CT · For-Profit	$12,267	$54,975	2.5 yrs
36	University of Illinois Chicago Chicago, IL · Public	$14,105	$57,318	2.5 yrs
37	The University of Texas at Austin Austin, TX · Public	$16,134	$60,025	2.6 yrs
38	Northern Kentucky University Highland Heights, KY · Public	$9,505	$49,158	2.7 yrs
39	University of Washington-Bothell Campus Bothell, WA · Public	$9,439	$48,687	2.8 yrs
40	Concordia University-Saint Paul Saint Paul, MN · Private	$14,980	$56,054	2.8 yrs
41	University of Michigan-Dearborn Dearborn, MI · Public	$12,398	$52,941	2.8 yrs
42	Boston University Boston, MA · Private	$18,458	$60,597	2.9 yrs
43	Stevens Institute of Technology Hoboken, NJ · Private	$28,483	$73,635	2.9 yrs
44	University of Maryland-College Park College Park, MD · Public	$17,360	$59,314	2.9 yrs
45	University of Richmond University of Richmond, VA · Private	$16,063	$56,544	3 yrs
46	Lehigh University Bethlehem, PA · Private	$19,026	$60,771	3 yrs
47	Miami University-Oxford Oxford, OH · Public	$23,513	$66,461	3 yrs
48	Michigan State University East Lansing, MI · Public	$20,557	$62,654	3 yrs
49	Grand Valley State University Allendale, MI · Public	$15,277	$55,151	3 yrs
50	University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh Oshkosh, WI · Public	$14,157	$53,984	3 yrs

Top Earners in Business Administration, Management and Operations

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.