Best Value / By Major

Best Value Colleges for Education, General

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

50

Schools Ranked

$33,700

Avg. Earnings

4.8 yrs

Best Payback

5,185

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 Houston-Clear Lake Houston, TX · Public	$14,952	$47,572	4.8 yrs
2	University of Hawaii-West Oahu Kapolei, HI · Public	$13,554	$45,636	5.1 yrs
3	Rutgers University-New Brunswick New Brunswick, NJ · Public	$20,927	$48,041	6.4 yrs
4	Seattle Pacific University Seattle, WA · Private	$24,278	$47,260	7.9 yrs
5	Purdue University Northwest Hammond, IN · Public	$12,829	$41,342	8.1 yrs
6	Monmouth University West Long Branch, NJ · Private	$28,313	$48,177	8.6 yrs
7	University of Wisconsin-Platteville Platteville, WI · Public	$13,699	$41,007	9.1 yrs
8	Vassar College Poughkeepsie, NY · Private	$17,403	$39,741	14.7 yrs
9	Illinois Wesleyan University Bloomington, IL · Private	$31,095	$43,426	14.8 yrs
10	Southern Connecticut State University New Haven, CT · Public	$21,008	$40,393	15.6 yrs
11	Michigan State University East Lansing, MI · Public	$20,557	$40,089	16.2 yrs
12	G Goddard College Plainfield, VT · Private	$28,003	$41,193	18.1 yrs
13	Corban University Salem, OR · Private	$18,279	$39,009	18.2 yrs
14	Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College Baton Rouge, LA · Public	$19,623	$39,099	19.1 yrs
15	Stonehill College Easton, MA · Private	$26,555	$40,338	19.9 yrs
16	University of Mount Olive Mount Olive, NC · Private	$16,682	$38,289	20.3 yrs
17	University of Wisconsin-Green Bay Green Bay, WI · Public	$13,258	$37,280	23.3 yrs
18	Brandeis University Waltham, MA · Private	$24,183	$39,009	24.1 yrs
19	University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Milwaukee, WI · Public	$17,606	$37,821	25 yrs
20	Midland University Fremont, NE · Private	$19,729	$37,671	29.5 yrs
21	Nelson University Waxahachie, TX · Private	$24,688	$37,928	33.7 yrs
22	Grand Valley State University Allendale, MI · Public	$15,277	$36,803	33.9 yrs
23	Saint Louis University Saint Louis, MO · Private	$19,225	$37,125	36.2 yrs
24	Siena Heights University Adrian, MI · Private	$21,296	$37,208	38.6 yrs
25	University of Massachusetts-Amherst Amherst, MA · Public	$16,667	$36,437	46.4 yrs
26	Flagler College Saint Augustine, FL · Private	$24,027	$37,054	46.8 yrs
27	Oregon State University-Cascades Campus Bend, OR · Public	$20,523	$36,668	49.2 yrs
28	Oregon State University Corvallis, OR · Public	$21,716	$36,668	52.1 yrs
29	John Carroll University University Heights, OH · Private	$22,974	$35,274	335.4 yrs
30	University of Virginia's College at Wise Wise, VA · Public	$10,310	$35,060	687.3 yrs
31	Denison University Granville, OH · Private	$18,607	$30,771	N/A
32	Chapman University Orange, CA · Private	$38,525	$25,774	N/A
33	Beloit College Beloit, WI · Private	$10,850	$30,926	N/A
34	Merrimack College North Andover, MA · Private	$30,079	$29,685	N/A
35	Florida Gulf Coast University Fort Myers, FL · Public	$11,133	$30,409	N/A
36	University of California-Irvine Irvine, CA · Public	$13,275	$24,325	N/A
37	SUNY Brockport Brockport, NY · Public	$17,803	$33,993	N/A
38	Florida Atlantic University Boca Raton, FL · Public	$12,323	$34,259	N/A
39	Curry College Milton, MA · Private	$26,716	$31,133	N/A
40	University of Arkansas Fayetteville, AR · Public	$16,256	$26,519	N/A
41	Bay Path University Longmeadow, MA · Private	$24,041	$27,584	N/A
42	Salem College Winston-Salem, NC · Private	$17,645	$29,685	N/A
43	Kent State University at Kent Kent, OH · Public	$19,508	$28,779	N/A
44	Fairmont State University Fairmont, WV · Public	$12,104	$28,816	N/A
45	Heidelberg University Tiffin, OH · Private	$18,812	$33,637	N/A
46	Salem State University Salem, MA · Public	$18,141	$31,712	N/A
47	Webster University Saint Louis, MO · Private	$22,524	$32,925	N/A
48	C Cabrini University Radnor, PA · Private	$20,632	$30,228	N/A
49	Belmont Abbey College Belmont, NC · Private	$19,456	$26,739	N/A
50	Wilmington College Wilmington, OH · Private	$20,195	$31,133	N/A

Top Earners in Education, General

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.