Best Value / By Major

Best Value Colleges for Business/Commerce, General

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

50

Schools Ranked

$43,449

Avg. Earnings

<1 yr

Best Payback

77,294

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	$94,408	<1 yr
2	Wake Forest University Winston-Salem, NC · Private	$10,228	$66,653	1.3 yrs
3	University of Virginia-Main Campus Charlottesville, VA · Public	$16,019	$82,440	1.4 yrs
4	Indiana University-Bloomington Bloomington, IN · Public	$12,369	$65,832	1.6 yrs
5	The University of Texas at Austin Austin, TX · Public	$16,134	$76,460	1.6 yrs
6	Texas A&M University-College Station College Station, TX · Public	$17,525	$76,460	1.7 yrs
7	Texas Tech University Lubbock, TX · Public	$15,248	$66,401	1.9 yrs
8	New York University New York, NY · Private	$31,355	$82,507	2.6 yrs
9	Northeastern University Boston, MA · Private	$18,389	$63,111	2.6 yrs
10	California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo San Luis Obispo, CA · Public	$17,340	$61,651	2.6 yrs
11	University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, IN · Private	$14,020	$55,964	2.7 yrs
12	Bethel University McKenzie, TN · Private	$17,690	$61,516	2.7 yrs
13	Saint Mary's University of Minnesota Winona, MN · Private	$18,683	$59,124	3.1 yrs
14	Northeastern University Oakland Oakland, CA · Private	$22,894	$63,111	3.3 yrs
15	Colorado State University-Fort Collins Fort Collins, CO · Public	$15,086	$53,424	3.3 yrs
16	Pace University New York, NY · Private	$28,066	$68,219	3.4 yrs
17	Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Blacksburg, VA · Public	$18,372	$56,563	3.4 yrs
18	William Penn University Oskaloosa, IA · Private	$20,551	$58,402	3.5 yrs
19	Mount Mercy University Cedar Rapids, IA · Private	$21,263	$58,402	3.6 yrs
20	Indiana University-East Richmond, IN · Public	$10,955	$46,478	3.8 yrs
21	University of Missouri-Columbia Columbia, MO · Public	$13,715	$48,892	3.9 yrs
22	University of Connecticut-Avery Point Groton, CT · Public	$9,414	$44,542	3.9 yrs
23	University of Houston-Clear Lake Houston, TX · Public	$14,952	$49,996	4 yrs
24	Northern Kentucky University Highland Heights, KY · Public	$9,505	$44,170	4.1 yrs
25	Aurora University Aurora, IL · Private	$15,645	$50,105	4.1 yrs
26	University of Connecticut-Waterbury Campus Waterbury, CT · Public	$10,112	$44,542	4.2 yrs
27	Concordia University Texas Austin, TX · Private	$24,915	$57,995	4.3 yrs
28	Fort Hays State University Hays, KS · Public	$13,208	$47,260	4.3 yrs
29	University of Connecticut-Hartford Campus Hartford, CT · Public	$10,515	$44,542	4.4 yrs
30	Washington College Chestertown, MD · Private	$20,340	$53,045	4.5 yrs
31	Ohio State University-Main Campus Columbus, OH · Public	$13,273	$46,924	4.5 yrs
32	University of Redlands Redlands, CA · Private	$21,947	$53,497	4.7 yrs
33	West Virginia University Institute of Technology Beckley, WV · Public	$10,775	$44,189	4.7 yrs
34	University of North Texas Denton, TX · Public	$14,132	$46,869	4.8 yrs
35	Indiana University-Indianapolis Indianapolis, IN · Public	$13,306	$46,071	4.8 yrs
36	Liberty University Lynchburg, VA · Private	$27,305	$57,705	4.8 yrs
37	Tarleton State University Stephenville, TX · Public	$21,117	$52,107	4.9 yrs
38	Brandeis University Waltham, MA · Private	$24,183	$54,192	5 yrs
39	Mercer University Macon, GA · Private	$21,388	$52,107	5 yrs
40	University of Oregon Eugene, OR · Public	$16,014	$47,620	5.1 yrs
41	Oakland University Rochester Hills, MI · Public	$12,008	$44,356	5.1 yrs
42	University of Rochester Rochester, NY · Private	$23,108	$52,941	5.2 yrs
43	Wittenberg University Springfield, OH · Private	$18,702	$49,464	5.2 yrs
44	University of Houston-Downtown Houston, TX · Public	$15,426	$46,589	5.3 yrs
45	Northeastern Illinois University Chicago, IL · Public	$16,540	$47,260	5.4 yrs
46	Albright College Reading, PA · Private	$17,867	$48,041	5.5 yrs
47	Indiana University-Southeast New Albany, IN · Public	$12,931	$44,276	5.6 yrs
48	Drexel University Philadelphia, PA · Private	$33,921	$58,673	5.7 yrs
49	West Virginia University Morgantown, WV · Public	$13,077	$44,189	5.7 yrs
50	Hastings College Hastings, NE · Private	$18,584	$48,041	5.7 yrs

Top Earners in Business/Commerce, 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.