Best Value / By Major

Best Value Colleges for Environmental/Environmental Health Engineering

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

45

Schools Ranked

$52,439

Avg. Earnings

1.4 yrs

Best Payback

1,208

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	CUNY City College New York, NY · Public	$7,521	$55,964	1.4 yrs
2	University of Michigan-Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, MI · Public	$10,481	$60,771	1.6 yrs
3	University of Connecticut-Avery Point Groton, CT · Public	$9,414	$58,221	1.6 yrs
4	University of Connecticut-Waterbury Campus Waterbury, CT · Public	$10,112	$58,221	1.7 yrs
5	University of Connecticut-Hartford Campus Hartford, CT · Public	$10,515	$58,221	1.8 yrs
6	Ohio State University-Main Campus Columbus, OH · Public	$13,273	$62,012	2 yrs
7	Florida Gulf Coast University Fort Myers, FL · Public	$11,133	$57,318	2 yrs
8	University of Central Florida Orlando, FL · Public	$9,426	$53,358	2.1 yrs
9	University of Wisconsin-Platteville Platteville, WI · Public	$13,699	$58,673	2.3 yrs
10	Cornell University Ithaca, NY · Private	$9,785	$51,273	2.4 yrs
11	University of Florida Gainesville, FL · Public	$8,394	$48,823	2.4 yrs
12	California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo San Luis Obispo, CA · Public	$17,340	$63,005	2.5 yrs
13	University of Connecticut-Stamford Stamford, CT · Public	$15,152	$58,221	2.6 yrs
14	Missouri University of Science and Technology Rolla, MO · Public	$11,656	$52,733	2.6 yrs
15	University of Nevada-Reno Reno, NV · Public	$15,106	$57,318	2.7 yrs
16	Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus Atlanta, GA · Public	$15,415	$56,641	2.8 yrs
17	Michigan Technological University Houghton, MI · Public	$11,794	$51,607	2.8 yrs
18	University of Georgia Athens, GA · Public	$15,037	$52,941	3.4 yrs
19	University of Delaware Newark, DE · Public	$17,260	$55,512	3.4 yrs
20	University of Connecticut Storrs, CT · Public	$20,344	$58,221	3.5 yrs
21	Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Harrisburg Middletown, PA · Public	$22,395	$60,623	3.5 yrs
22	University of Colorado Boulder Boulder, CO · Public	$18,204	$54,254	3.8 yrs
23	Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus University Park, PA · Public	$27,137	$60,623	4.2 yrs
24	Northern Arizona University Flagstaff, AZ · Public	$14,142	$48,432	4.2 yrs
25	University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, IN · Private	$14,020	$48,432	4.2 yrs
26	Clemson University Clemson, SC · Public	$20,797	$52,941	4.6 yrs
27	University at Buffalo Buffalo, NY · Public	$20,841	$52,107	4.9 yrs
28	Colorado State University-Fort Collins Fort Collins, CO · Public	$15,086	$47,118	5 yrs
29	Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College Baton Rouge, LA · Public	$19,623	$50,856	5 yrs
30	California State Polytechnic University-Humboldt Arcata, CA · Public	$16,716	$48,265	5 yrs
31	Clarkson University Potsdam, NY · Private	$27,131	$56,157	5.1 yrs
32	Oregon State University-Cascades Campus Bend, OR · Public	$20,523	$50,856	5.2 yrs
33	University of New Hampshire-Main Campus Durham, NH · Public	$20,896	$50,621	5.4 yrs
34	University of Vermont Burlington, VT · Public	$17,585	$48,041	5.4 yrs
35	Oregon State University Corvallis, OR · Public	$21,716	$50,856	5.5 yrs
36	University of California-Riverside Riverside, CA · Public	$11,126	$42,682	5.8 yrs
37	Colorado School of Mines Golden, CO · Public	$24,461	$50,558	6.3 yrs
38	Wilkes University Wilkes-Barre, PA · Private	$28,221	$52,941	6.3 yrs
39	Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Troy, NY · Private	$29,788	$52,941	6.6 yrs
40	Drexel University Philadelphia, PA · Private	$33,921	$55,286	6.7 yrs
41	Worcester Polytechnic Institute Worcester, MA · Private	$33,999	$54,035	7.1 yrs
42	Arizona State University Campus Immersion Tempe, AZ · Public	$15,561	$43,128	7.7 yrs
43	University of California-Merced Merced, CA · Public	$14,261	$38,721	15.3 yrs
44	San Diego State University San Diego, CA · Public	$14,698	$35,060	979.9 yrs
45	Gonzaga University Spokane, WA · Private	$26,473	$25,194	N/A

Top Earners in Environmental/Environmental Health Engineering

See schools ranked by earnings alone, without considering cost.

Best Value Rankings

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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.