Best Value / By Major

Best Value Colleges for Computer Programming

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

Schools Ranked

$57,806

Avg. Earnings

1.2 yrs

Best Payback

2,708

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 Michigan-Dearborn Dearborn, MI · Public	$12,398	$76,460	1.2 yrs
2	Neumont College of Computer Science Salt Lake City, UT · For-Profit	$27,081	$80,095	2.4 yrs
3	Baker College Owosso, MI · Private	$12,281	$52,941	2.7 yrs
4	Herzing University-Orlando Winter Park, FL · Private	$19,374	$62,260	2.8 yrs
5	Herzing University-Kenosha Kenosha, WI · Private	$19,349	$62,260	2.8 yrs
6	Herzing University-Akron Akron, OH · Private	$21,684	$62,260	3.2 yrs
7	Davenport University Grand Rapids, MI · Private	$21,874	$61,516	3.3 yrs
8	Western Colorado University Gunnison, CO · Public	$16,216	$54,435	3.3 yrs
9	Elon University Elon, NC · Private	$29,909	$70,680	3.4 yrs
10	Herzing University-Madison Madison, WI · Private	$24,555	$62,260	3.6 yrs
11	Herzing University-Minneapolis St. Louis Park, MN · Private	$25,318	$62,260	3.7 yrs
12	Herzing University-Brookfield Brookfield, WI · Private	$25,137	$62,260	3.7 yrs
13	DigiPen Institute of Technology Redmond, WA · For-Profit	$40,635	$76,998	3.9 yrs
14	Herzing University-Birmingham Birmingham, AL · Private	$26,347	$62,260	3.9 yrs
15	New England Institute of Technology East Greenwich, RI · Private	$33,946	$68,219	4.1 yrs
16	Herzing University-Atlanta Atlanta, GA · Private	$27,616	$62,260	4.1 yrs
17	University of Advancing Technology Tempe, AZ · For-Profit	$18,587	$52,941	4.1 yrs
18	Kennesaw State University Kennesaw, GA · Public	$19,365	$51,273	4.8 yrs
19	DePaul University Chicago, IL · Private	$28,577	$55,422	5.6 yrs
20	Farmingdale State College Farmingdale, NY · Public	$10,914	$42,123	6.1 yrs
21	Youngstown State University Youngstown, OH · Public	$13,754	$41,193	8.9 yrs
22	North Carolina Central University Durham, NC · Public	$17,208	$41,205	11.1 yrs
23	ECPI University Virginia Beach, VA · For-Profit	$23,472	$43,054	11.7 yrs
24	Tulane University of Louisiana New Orleans, LA · Private	$25,322	$35,060	N/A

Top Earners in Computer Programming

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.