Best Value / By Major

Best Value Colleges for Dance

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

50

Schools Ranked

$23,031

Avg. Earnings

6.1 yrs

Best Payback

1,548

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	Texas Woman's University Denton, TX · Public	$10,508	$41,937	6.1 yrs
2	Texas State University San Marcos, TX · Public	$12,996	$42,682	6.8 yrs
3	University of California-Riverside Riverside, CA · Public	$11,126	$35,600	74.2 yrs
4	Muhlenberg College Allentown, PA · Private	$20,783	$35,420	197.9 yrs
5	University of Iowa Iowa City, IA · Public	$18,026	$24,421	N/A
6	University of South Carolina-Columbia Columbia, SC · Public	$20,325	$29,685	N/A
7	Rutgers University-New Brunswick New Brunswick, NJ · Public	$20,927	$25,194	N/A
8	Chapman University Orange, CA · Private	$38,525	$19,455	N/A
9	University of North Texas Denton, TX · Public	$14,132	$28,960	N/A
10	Sam Houston State University Huntsville, TX · Public	$14,927	$23,456	N/A
11	University of North Carolina at Charlotte Charlotte, NC · Public	$16,938	$15,817	N/A
12	Hofstra University Hempstead, NY · Private	$33,635	$25,194	N/A
13	University of Minnesota-Twin Cities Minneapolis, MN · Public	$12,911	$20,140	N/A
14	Fordham University Bronx, NY · Private	$31,221	$25,194	N/A
15	California State University-Long Beach Long Beach, CA · Public	$11,189	$16,786	N/A
16	Western Michigan University Kalamazoo, MI · Public	$20,840	$19,455	N/A
17	University of North Carolina at Greensboro Greensboro, NC · Public	$13,214	$23,456	N/A
18	Arizona State University Campus Immersion Tempe, AZ · Public	$15,561	$30,409	N/A
19	East Carolina University Greenville, NC · Public	$16,654	$26,353	N/A
20	University of Florida Gainesville, FL · Public	$8,394	$24,035	N/A
21	Columbia College Chicago Chicago, IL · Private	$26,626	$21,964	N/A
22	Mercyhurst University Erie, PA · Private	$24,488	$23,693	N/A
23	Florida State University Tallahassee, FL · Public	$11,506	$20,140	N/A
24	Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania Slippery Rock, PA · Public	$19,050	$28,236	N/A
25	SUNY Brockport Brockport, NY · Public	$17,803	$25,967	N/A
26	University of California-Irvine Irvine, CA · Public	$13,275	$28,236	N/A
27	Pace University New York, NY · Private	$28,066	$22,806	N/A
28	University at Buffalo Buffalo, NY · Public	$20,841	$18,771	N/A
29	New York University New York, NY · Private	$31,355	$16,478	N/A
30	U University of the Arts Philadelphia, PA · Private	$38,272	$21,613	N/A
31	Marymount Manhattan College New York, NY · Private	$36,612	$21,403	N/A
32	Minnesota State University-Mankato Mankato, MN · Public	$14,995	$21,964	N/A
33	Point Park University Pittsburgh, PA · Private	$20,671	$19,227	N/A
34	Dean College Franklin, MA · Private	$28,849	$26,121	N/A
35	Temple University Philadelphia, PA · Public	$21,568	$21,052	N/A
36	DeSales University Center Valley, PA · Private	$28,434	$21,781	N/A
37	Berklee College of Music Boston, MA · Private	$56,985	$21,964	N/A
38	Ball State University Muncie, IN · Public	$15,158	$26,353	N/A
39	Cornish College of the Arts Seattle, WA · Private	$37,769	$23,340	N/A
40	Oklahoma City University Oklahoma City, OK · Private	$22,971	$20,824	N/A
41	University of Arizona Tucson, AZ · Public	$13,644	$18,315	N/A
42	University of South Florida Tampa, FL · Public	$9,669	$14,935	N/A
43	Goucher College Baltimore, MD · Private	$21,555	$32,925	N/A
44	University of North Carolina School of the Arts Winston Salem, NC · Public	$13,480	$18,771	N/A
45	Elon University Elon, NC · Private	$29,909	$30,771	N/A
46	SUNY at Purchase College Purchase, NY · Public	$18,347	$17,824	N/A
47	University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Milwaukee, WI · Public	$17,606	$21,234	N/A
48	University of Missouri-Kansas City Kansas City, MO · Public	$15,768	$18,087	N/A
49	Texas Christian University Fort Worth, TX · Private	$33,018	$27,439	N/A
50	The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Edinburg, TX · Public	$5,452	$26,933	N/A

Top Earners in Dance

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.