Best Value / By Major

Best Value Colleges for Construction Engineering Technologies

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

40

Schools Ranked

$64,024

Avg. Earnings

<1 yr

Best Payback

2,283

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 Florida Gainesville, FL · Public	$8,394	$71,644	<1 yr
2	Florida International University Miami, FL · Public	$7,292	$67,101	<1 yr
3	California State University-Fresno Fresno, CA · Public	$8,030	$69,338	<1 yr
4	California State University-Long Beach Long Beach, CA · Public	$11,189	$81,175	1 yrs
5	California State University-Northridge Northridge, CA · Public	$10,780	$75,204	1.1 yrs
6	CUNY New York City College of Technology Brooklyn, NY · Public	$8,412	$59,937	1.3 yrs
7	University of North Florida Jacksonville, FL · Public	$10,194	$64,990	1.4 yrs
8	California State Polytechnic University-Pomona Pomona, CA · Public	$15,958	$77,329	1.5 yrs
9	California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo San Luis Obispo, CA · Public	$17,340	$82,780	1.5 yrs
10	San Diego State University San Diego, CA · Public	$14,698	$72,231	1.6 yrs
11	Texas State University San Marcos, TX · Public	$12,996	$67,660	1.6 yrs
12	University of North Texas Denton, TX · Public	$14,132	$69,338	1.6 yrs
13	University of Houston Houston, TX · Public	$13,382	$66,060	1.7 yrs
14	Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Edwardsville, IL · Public	$12,950	$65,979	1.7 yrs
15	Colorado State University-Fort Collins Fort Collins, CO · Public	$15,086	$71,015	1.7 yrs
16	Northern Michigan University Marquette, MI · Public	$16,017	$72,796	1.7 yrs
17	Farmingdale State College Farmingdale, NY · Public	$10,914	$58,221	1.9 yrs
18	Texas A&M University-College Station College Station, TX · Public	$17,525	$69,757	2 yrs
19	Oklahoma State University-Main Campus Stillwater, OK · Public	$14,127	$63,855	2 yrs
20	Georgia Southern University Statesboro, GA · Public	$16,181	$64,608	2.2 yrs
21	Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University Tallahassee, FL · Public	$15,705	$61,814	2.3 yrs
22	Colorado Mesa University Grand Junction, CO · Public	$16,572	$63,997	2.3 yrs
23	Sam Houston State University Huntsville, TX · Public	$14,927	$60,128	2.4 yrs
24	University of Nebraska-Lincoln Lincoln, NE · Public	$15,394	$60,523	2.4 yrs
25	Michigan State University East Lansing, MI · Public	$20,557	$68,422	2.5 yrs
26	Kansas State University Manhattan, KS · Public	$16,868	$62,012	2.5 yrs
27	Western Kentucky University Bowling Green, KY · Public	$17,490	$63,005	2.5 yrs
28	Western Carolina University Cullowhee, NC · Public	$14,701	$58,221	2.5 yrs
29	Louisiana Tech University Ruston, LA · Public	$11,505	$53,108	2.5 yrs
30	Bowling Green State University-Main Campus Bowling Green, OH · Public	$18,606	$65,131	2.5 yrs
31	Central Michigan University Mount Pleasant, MI · Public	$15,720	$58,673	2.7 yrs
32	University of North Carolina at Charlotte Charlotte, NC · Public	$16,938	$58,943	2.8 yrs
33	University of Maine Orono, ME · Public	$14,886	$55,964	2.8 yrs
34	Montana State University Bozeman, MT · Public	$19,942	$63,997	2.8 yrs
35	University of Toledo Toledo, OH · Public	$17,555	$60,399	2.8 yrs
36	University of Akron Main Campus Akron, OH · Public	$18,860	$59,350	3.1 yrs
37	Purdue University Fort Wayne Fort Wayne, IN · Public	$13,015	$51,106	3.2 yrs
38	South Dakota State University Brookings, SD · Public	$18,826	$56,776	3.5 yrs
39	University of Arkansas at Little Rock Little Rock, AR · Public	$18,206	$55,512	3.6 yrs
40	Prairie View A & M University Prairie View, TX · Public	$16,916	$46,478	5.9 yrs

Top Earners in Construction Engineering Technologies

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.