Best Value / By Major

Best Value Colleges for Computer Engineering

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

50

Schools Ranked

$70,338

Avg. Earnings

<1 yr

Best Payback

9,760

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	Princeton University Princeton, NJ · Private	$5,542	$103,078	<1 yr
2	University of Washington-Seattle Campus Seattle, WA · Public	$8,393	$120,252	<1 yr
3	University of Washington-Bothell Campus Bothell, WA · Public	$9,439	$120,252	<1 yr
4	University of Washington-Tacoma Campus Tacoma, WA · Public	$8,147	$120,252	<1 yr
5	Duke University Durham, NC · Private	$7,160	$97,071	<1 yr
6	Northwestern University Evanston, IL · Private	$5,849	$85,918	<1 yr
7	Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, MD · Private	$8,457	$84,653	<1 yr
8	University of California-Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA · Public	$12,644	$97,071	<1 yr
9	University of Florida Gainesville, FL · Public	$8,394	$77,715	<1 yr
10	Florida International University Miami, FL · Public	$7,292	$72,274	<1 yr
11	Brigham Young University-Idaho Rexburg, ID · Private	$5,422	$61,516	<1 yr
12	University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Champaign, IL · Public	$11,505	$84,100	<1 yr
13	University of Michigan-Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, MI · Public	$10,481	$79,389	<1 yr
14	Purdue University-Main Campus West Lafayette, IN · Public	$8,450	$72,448	<1 yr
15	University of Wisconsin-Madison Madison, WI · Public	$10,364	$81,997	<1 yr
16	Brigham Young University Provo, UT · Private	$12,676	$87,604	1 yrs
17	University of Connecticut-Waterbury Campus Waterbury, CT · Public	$10,112	$74,262	1 yrs
18	University of Connecticut-Avery Point Groton, CT · Public	$9,414	$74,262	1 yrs
19	University of West Florida Pensacola, FL · Public	$7,301	$63,005	1 yrs
20	University of Connecticut-Hartford Campus Hartford, CT · Public	$10,515	$74,262	1.1 yrs
21	University of South Florida Tampa, FL · Public	$9,669	$68,727	1.1 yrs
22	California State University-Fresno Fresno, CA · Public	$8,030	$63,005	1.1 yrs
23	Michigan Technological University Houghton, MI · Public	$11,794	$78,172	1.1 yrs
24	California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo San Luis Obispo, CA · Public	$17,340	$93,964	1.2 yrs
25	University of Virginia-Main Campus Charlottesville, VA · Public	$16,019	$90,146	1.2 yrs
26	University of California-Davis Davis, CA · Public	$14,193	$82,440	1.2 yrs
27	California State University-Sacramento Sacramento, CA · Public	$12,602	$78,343	1.2 yrs
28	California State University-Northridge Northridge, CA · Public	$10,780	$71,015	1.2 yrs
29	Missouri University of Science and Technology Rolla, MO · Public	$11,656	$73,112	1.2 yrs
30	Oakland University Rochester Hills, MI · Public	$12,008	$76,460	1.2 yrs
31	The University of Texas at San Antonio San Antonio, TX · Public	$10,316	$68,907	1.2 yrs
32	University of California-San Diego La Jolla, CA · Public	$14,310	$79,688	1.3 yrs
33	Northeastern University Boston, MA · Private	$18,389	$89,564	1.3 yrs
34	Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus Atlanta, GA · Public	$15,415	$83,270	1.3 yrs
35	Florida State University Tallahassee, FL · Public	$11,506	$71,015	1.3 yrs
36	University of Michigan-Dearborn Dearborn, MI · Public	$12,398	$73,949	1.3 yrs
37	University of California-Riverside Riverside, CA · Public	$11,126	$69,617	1.3 yrs
38	University of Central Florida Orlando, FL · Public	$9,426	$63,749	1.3 yrs
39	California State University-Long Beach Long Beach, CA · Public	$11,189	$68,499	1.3 yrs
40	University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez Mayaguez, PR · Public	$11,994	$71,734	1.3 yrs
41	University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, IN · Private	$14,020	$79,598	1.3 yrs
42	Portland State University Portland, OR · Public	$12,964	$76,460	1.3 yrs
43	University of California-Santa Barbara Santa Barbara, CA · Public	$14,583	$76,773	1.4 yrs
44	University of California-Santa Cruz Santa Cruz, CA · Public	$15,567	$79,150	1.4 yrs
45	University of Minnesota-Twin Cities Minneapolis, MN · Public	$12,911	$72,022	1.4 yrs
46	Washington State University Pullman, WA · Public	$14,233	$75,204	1.4 yrs
47	University of Nebraska at Omaha Omaha, NE · Public	$13,574	$73,635	1.4 yrs
48	University of Maryland-College Park College Park, MD · Public	$17,360	$80,466	1.5 yrs
49	University of California-Irvine Irvine, CA · Public	$13,275	$69,338	1.5 yrs
50	Ohio State University-Main Campus Columbus, OH · Public	$13,273	$70,931	1.5 yrs

Top Earners in Computer Engineering

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.