Best Value / By Major

Best Value Colleges for Criminology

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

50

Schools Ranked

$34,133

Avg. Earnings

2.5 yrs

Best Payback

9,086

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	Lindenwood University Saint Charles, MO · Private	$15,749	$59,883	2.5 yrs
2	Regis University Denver, CO · Private	$23,019	$48,823	6.7 yrs
3	The University of Texas Permian Basin Odessa, TX · Public	$10,549	$41,193	6.8 yrs
4	University of Southern Maine Portland, ME · Public	$12,238	$41,565	7.5 yrs
5	University of Maryland-College Park College Park, MD · Public	$17,360	$43,585	8.1 yrs
6	Saint Anselm College Manchester, NH · Private	$22,890	$45,696	8.6 yrs
7	National Louis University Chicago, IL · Private	$16,487	$42,682	8.6 yrs
8	Saint Joseph's University - Philadelphia Philadelphia, PA · Private	$26,825	$47,260	8.8 yrs
9	Fairleigh Dickinson University-Metropolitan Campus Teaneck, NJ · Private	$15,022	$39,153	14.5 yrs
10	University of Saint Mary Leavenworth, KS · Private	$19,207	$40,281	14.5 yrs
11	University of Minnesota-Duluth Duluth, MN · Public	$13,364	$38,649	14.6 yrs
12	Lebanon Valley College Annville, PA · Private	$24,182	$41,007	16.1 yrs
13	Eastern Michigan University Ypsilanti, MI · Public	$14,547	$38,505	16.6 yrs
14	North Carolina State University at Raleigh Raleigh, NC · Public	$14,424	$38,289	17.5 yrs
15	Upper Iowa University Fayette, IA · Private	$22,508	$40,089	17.7 yrs
16	Elizabethtown College Elizabethtown, PA · Private	$20,761	$39,592	18.1 yrs
17	University of Northern Iowa Cedar Falls, IA · Public	$15,287	$38,289	18.6 yrs
18	Ohio State University-Main Campus Columbus, OH · Public	$13,273	$37,808	18.9 yrs
19	University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth North Dartmouth, MA · Public	$20,074	$39,153	19.3 yrs
20	Maryville University of Saint Louis Saint Louis, MO · Private	$26,965	$40,485	19.7 yrs
21	Fairleigh Dickinson University-Florham Campus Madison, NJ · Private	$20,940	$39,153	20.2 yrs
22	University of Houston-Clear Lake Houston, TX · Public	$14,952	$37,568	23.3 yrs
23	University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA · Private	$12,020	$36,848	26 yrs
24	St. John Fisher University Rochester, NY · Private	$26,544	$38,289	32.3 yrs
25	Le Moyne College Syracuse, NY · Private	$21,530	$37,208	39 yrs
26	Lasell University Newton, MA · Private	$25,689	$37,478	41.5 yrs
27	Mount St. Mary's University Emmitsburg, MD · Private	$25,752	$37,363	43.6 yrs
28	Framingham State University Framingham, MA · Public	$19,068	$36,488	51.3 yrs
29	Albright College Reading, PA · Private	$17,867	$36,312	54.5 yrs
30	Gonzaga University Spokane, WA · Private	$26,473	$36,848	57.3 yrs
31	Suffolk University Boston, MA · Private	$29,611	$36,848	64.1 yrs
32	Stonehill College Easton, MA · Private	$26,555	$36,246	85.2 yrs
33	University of Delaware Newark, DE · Public	$17,260	$35,774	89.2 yrs
34	Indiana State University Terre Haute, IN · Public	$15,588	$35,546	114.2 yrs
35	University of Minnesota-Twin Cities Minneapolis, MN · Public	$12,911	$35,416	124.1 yrs
36	Saint Vincent College Latrobe, PA · Private	$19,682	$35,594	132.5 yrs
37	Eastern Washington University Cheney, WA · Public	$12,224	$35,327	149.5 yrs
38	Marquette University Milwaukee, WI · Private	$25,377	$35,518	196 yrs
39	University of Miami Coral Gables, FL · Private	$38,999	$32,391	N/A
40	University of Nevada-Reno Reno, NV · Public	$15,106	$33,616	N/A
41	University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Whitewater, WI · Public	$14,226	$31,495	N/A
42	Central Connecticut State University New Britain, CT · Public	$16,857	$34,823	N/A
43	Lycoming College Williamsport, PA · Private	$19,005	$33,518	N/A
44	University at Albany Albany, NY · Public	$19,727	$33,993	N/A
45	The University of Tampa Tampa, FL · Private	$29,375	$29,322	N/A
46	Hofstra University Hempstead, NY · Private	$33,635	$32,925	N/A
47	University of New Hampshire-Main Campus Durham, NH · Public	$20,896	$34,187	N/A
48	Mount St. Joseph University Cincinnati, OH · Private	$17,613	$33,281	N/A
49	Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania Slippery Rock, PA · Public	$19,050	$32,925	N/A
50	University of Florida Gainesville, FL · Public	$8,394	$34,603	N/A

Top Earners in Criminology

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.