Best Value Colleges for Construction Engineering
Schools ranked by payback period — how quickly you recoup your investment through higher earnings.
13
Schools Ranked
$71,301
Avg. Earnings
<1 yr
Best Payback
561
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 | Major Earnings | Payback |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Purdue University-Main Campus West Lafayette, IN · Public | $78,343 | <1 yr |
| 2 | California State University-Sacramento Sacramento, CA · Public | $80,779 | 1.1 yrs |
| 3 | Iowa State University Ames, IA · Public | $70,083 | 1.7 yrs |
| 4 | Texas Tech University Lubbock, TX · Public | $68,139 | 1.8 yrs |
| 5 | National University San Diego, CA · Private | $82,440 | 2 yrs |
| 6 | The University of Alabama Tuscaloosa, AL · Public | $76,460 | 2.1 yrs |
| 7 | Oregon State University-Cascades Campus Bend, OR · Public | $71,295 | 2.3 yrs |
| 8 | Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Blacksburg, VA · Public | $67,324 | 2.3 yrs |
| 9 | Oregon State University Corvallis, OR · Public | $71,295 | 2.4 yrs |
| 10 | Marquette University Milwaukee, WI · Private | $73,949 | 2.6 yrs |
| 11 | North Dakota State University-Main Campus Fargo, ND · Public | $59,417 | 2.6 yrs |
| 12 | Bowling Green State University-Main Campus Bowling Green, OH · Public | $62,154 | 2.7 yrs |
| 13 | Bradley University Peoria, IL · Private | $65,238 | 3.1 yrs |
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.