Best Value / By Major

Best Value Colleges for Education, Other

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

Schools Ranked

$33,417

Avg. Earnings

3.8 yrs

Best Payback

1,562

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	Swarthmore College Swarthmore, PA · Private	$11,521	$47,260	3.8 yrs
2	Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College Baton Rouge, LA · Public	$19,623	$54,661	4 yrs
3	University of Minnesota-Twin Cities Minneapolis, MN · Public	$12,911	$43,399	6.1 yrs
4	Towson University Towson, MD · Public	$17,667	$44,783	7.2 yrs
5	University of Minnesota-Duluth Duluth, MN · Public	$13,364	$39,153	12.9 yrs
6	University of Nevada-Reno Reno, NV · Public	$15,106	$38,906	15.5 yrs
7	Gonzaga University Spokane, WA · Private	$26,473	$38,289	32.2 yrs
8	Mount Holyoke College South Hadley, MA · Private	$16,248	$36,560	41.7 yrs
9	Endicott College Beverly, MA · Private	$31,192	$25,194	N/A
10	Sonoma State University Rohnert Park, CA · Public	$17,985	$30,771	N/A
11	Arizona State University Campus Immersion Tempe, AZ · Public	$15,561	$32,678	N/A
12	Eastern Oregon University La Grande, OR · Public	$14,252	$34,942	N/A
13	California State University-Channel Islands Camarillo, CA · Public	$16,151	$28,381	N/A
14	Edgewood College Madison, WI · Private	$25,061	$22,578	N/A
15	Carroll University Waukesha, WI · Private	$22,237	$26,933	N/A
16	Westminster College New Wilmington, PA · Private	$17,443	$34,847	N/A
17	Bowling Green State University-Main Campus Bowling Green, OH · Public	$18,606	$27,396	N/A
18	Albany State University Albany, GA · Public	$15,842	$21,280	N/A
19	Lindenwood University Saint Charles, MO · Private	$15,749	$29,685	N/A
20	University of Washington-Seattle Campus Seattle, WA · Public	$8,393	$34,769	N/A
21	Point Park University Pittsburgh, PA · Private	$20,671	$32,925	N/A
22	Keystone College La Plume, PA · Private	$26,212	$22,710	N/A
23	Liberty University Lynchburg, VA · Private	$27,305	$20,921	N/A

Top Earners in Education, Other

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.