Best Value / By Major

Best Value Colleges for Engineering, General

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

50

Schools Ranked

$62,205

Avg. Earnings

1 yrs

Best Payback

2,686

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	Cornell University Ithaca, NY · Private	$9,785	$74,576	1 yrs
2	Brown University Providence, RI · Private	$10,219	$75,921	1 yrs
3	University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Champaign, IL · Public	$11,505	$72,727	1.2 yrs
4	Franklin W Olin College of Engineering Needham, MA · Private	$14,300	$75,706	1.4 yrs
5	McNeese State University Lake Charles, LA · Public	$11,651	$69,338	1.4 yrs
6	Lafayette College Easton, PA · Private	$13,393	$72,403	1.4 yrs
7	Harvey Mudd College Claremont, CA · Private	$18,077	$81,997	1.5 yrs
8	University of California-Davis Davis, CA · Public	$14,193	$70,370	1.6 yrs
9	University of Alaska Anchorage Anchorage, AK · Public	$12,985	$66,728	1.6 yrs
10	Dartmouth College Hanover, NH · Private	$12,172	$64,990	1.6 yrs
11	Marshall University Huntington, WV · Public	$9,256	$57,318	1.7 yrs
12	College of Staten Island CUNY Staten Island, NY · Public	$9,270	$56,776	1.7 yrs
13	Arizona State University Campus Immersion Tempe, AZ · Public	$15,561	$68,666	1.8 yrs
14	University of North Carolina Asheville Asheville, NC · Public	$12,644	$63,005	1.8 yrs
15	The University of Tennessee-Chattanooga Chattanooga, TN · Public	$15,283	$69,338	1.8 yrs
16	North Carolina State University at Raleigh Raleigh, NC · Public	$14,424	$63,997	2 yrs
17	University of Southern Indiana Evansville, IN · Public	$14,486	$64,087	2 yrs
18	Minnesota State University-Mankato Mankato, MN · Public	$14,995	$63,302	2.1 yrs
19	Western Illinois University Macomb, IL · Public	$15,794	$64,990	2.1 yrs
20	Pennsylvania State University-Penn State DuBois DuBois, PA · Public	$15,229	$61,516	2.3 yrs
21	Olivet Nazarene University Bourbonnais, IL · Private	$17,206	$63,997	2.4 yrs
22	Frostburg State University Frostburg, MD · Public	$17,733	$63,005	2.5 yrs
23	Arkansas State University Jonesboro, AR · Public	$14,698	$58,131	2.5 yrs
24	John Brown University Siloam Springs, AR · Private	$20,127	$65,573	2.6 yrs
25	Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Hazleton Hazleton, PA · Public	$17,365	$61,516	2.6 yrs
26	The University of Tennessee-Martin Martin, TN · Public	$13,804	$56,415	2.6 yrs
27	Michigan State University East Lansing, MI · Public	$20,557	$63,997	2.8 yrs
28	Stony Brook University Stony Brook, NY · Public	$19,344	$62,154	2.8 yrs
29	East Carolina University Greenville, NC · Public	$16,654	$58,447	2.8 yrs
30	Hope College Holland, MI · Private	$22,669	$67,101	2.8 yrs
31	University of Cincinnati-Main Campus Cincinnati, OH · Public	$20,867	$64,493	2.8 yrs
32	Montana Technological University Butte, MT · Public	$16,499	$58,334	2.8 yrs
33	Elizabethtown College Elizabethtown, PA · Private	$20,761	$62,508	3 yrs
34	Calvin University Grand Rapids, MI · Private	$22,329	$65,188	3 yrs
35	Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Abington Abington, PA · Public	$20,421	$61,516	3.1 yrs
36	Colorado School of Mines Golden, CO · Public	$24,461	$65,131	3.2 yrs
37	Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Brandywine Media, PA · Public	$21,599	$61,516	3.3 yrs
38	Messiah University Mechanicsburg, PA · Private	$21,184	$60,623	3.3 yrs
39	Fort Lewis College Durango, CO · Public	$16,067	$54,209	3.3 yrs
40	James Madison University Harrisonburg, VA · Public	$19,216	$57,943	3.4 yrs
41	Walla Walla University College Place, WA · Private	$21,907	$60,568	3.4 yrs
42	University of Alabama in Huntsville Huntsville, AL · Public	$17,054	$54,644	3.5 yrs
43	Texas Christian University Fort Worth, TX · Private	$33,018	$69,338	3.8 yrs
44	Oral Roberts University Tulsa, OK · Private	$21,395	$57,318	3.8 yrs
45	University of Virginia-Main Campus Charlottesville, VA · Public	$16,019	$51,273	3.9 yrs
46	George Fox University Newberg, OR · Private	$24,749	$60,230	3.9 yrs
47	Geneva College Beaver Falls, PA · Private	$17,522	$52,789	3.9 yrs
48	Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus University Park, PA · Public	$27,137	$61,516	4.1 yrs
49	SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry Syracuse, NY · Public	$21,638	$55,348	4.3 yrs
50	Andrews University Berrien Springs, MI · Private	$22,344	$55,964	4.3 yrs

Top Earners in Engineering, 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.