Best Value / By Major

Best Value Colleges for Film/Video and Photographic Arts

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

50

Schools Ranked

$25,532

Avg. Earnings

14.7 yrs

Best Payback

10,140

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	Vassar College Poughkeepsie, NY · Private	$17,403	$39,729	14.7 yrs
2	Emory University Atlanta, GA · Private	$16,646	$39,369	15.2 yrs
3	American University Washington, DC · Private	$27,374	$40,896	18.6 yrs
4	Fairfield University Fairfield, CT · Private	$25,929	$36,848	56.1 yrs
5	Chapman University Orange, CA · Private	$38,525	$37,568	60 yrs
6	Stevenson University Owings Mills, MD · Private	$16,778	$35,864	77.7 yrs
7	Florida State University Tallahassee, FL · Public	$11,506	$35,060	767.1 yrs
8	Seattle University Seattle, WA · Private	$32,076	$27,669	N/A
9	Loyola Marymount University Los Angeles, CA · Private	$37,292	$32,711	N/A
10	New York University New York, NY · Private	$31,355	$30,952	N/A
11	University of Southern California Los Angeles, CA · Private	$22,826	$29,557	N/A
12	University of California-Davis Davis, CA · Public	$14,193	$22,482	N/A
13	University of Michigan-Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, MI · Public	$10,481	$28,682	N/A
14	Wheaton College (Massachusetts) Norton, MA · Private	$22,415	$26,739	N/A
15	Brigham Young University Provo, UT · Private	$12,676	$27,482	N/A
16	Rochester Institute of Technology Rochester, NY · Private	$31,935	$32,747	N/A
17	University of California-Riverside Riverside, CA · Public	$11,126	$25,503	N/A
18	Pace University New York, NY · Private	$28,066	$28,019	N/A
19	Purdue University-Main Campus West Lafayette, IN · Public	$8,450	$30,771	N/A
20	University of Miami Coral Gables, FL · Private	$38,999	$25,967	N/A
21	University of California-Irvine Irvine, CA · Public	$13,275	$23,340	N/A
22	Rhode Island School of Design Providence, RI · Private	$36,981	$22,192	N/A
23	Massachusetts College of Art and Design Boston, MA · Public	$22,098	$26,353	N/A
24	University of California-Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA · Public	$12,644	$33,993	N/A
25	Montclair State University Montclair, NJ · Public	$18,026	$22,192	N/A
26	Ohio State University-Main Campus Columbus, OH · Public	$13,273	$20,140	N/A
27	University of Oregon Eugene, OR · Public	$16,014	$27,503	N/A
28	Taylor University Upland, IN · Private	$20,001	$28,236	N/A
29	Woodbury University Burbank, CA · Private	$29,603	$25,774	N/A
30	George Mason University Fairfax, VA · Public	$19,066	$26,121	N/A
31	George Fox University Newberg, OR · Private	$24,749	$20,140	N/A
32	Emerson College Boston, MA · Private	$37,774	$29,081	N/A
33	Art Center College of Design Pasadena, CA · Private	$42,992	$20,824	N/A
34	University of California-Santa Barbara Santa Barbara, CA · Public	$14,583	$29,064	N/A
35	University of Utah Salt Lake City, UT · Public	$13,842	$23,649	N/A
36	Arizona State University Campus Immersion Tempe, AZ · Public	$15,561	$25,729	N/A
37	Eastern Michigan University Ypsilanti, MI · Public	$14,547	$29,413	N/A
38	Northern Arizona University Flagstaff, AZ · Public	$14,142	$29,374	N/A
39	The New School New York, NY · Private	$40,659	$26,739	N/A
40	University of Toledo Toledo, OH · Public	$17,555	$20,140	N/A
41	University of Iowa Iowa City, IA · Public	$18,026	$25,580	N/A
42	University of Minnesota-Twin Cities Minneapolis, MN · Public	$12,911	$23,456	N/A
43	San Francisco State University San Francisco, CA · Public	$16,065	$24,151	N/A
44	DePaul University Chicago, IL · Private	$28,577	$27,077	N/A
45	California State University-Northridge Northridge, CA · Public	$10,780	$27,874	N/A
46	Pratt Institute-Main Brooklyn, NY · Private	$49,338	$26,121	N/A
47	DeSales University Center Valley, PA · Private	$28,434	$24,421	N/A
48	CUNY City College New York, NY · Public	$7,521	$24,035	N/A
49	Binghamton University Vestal, NY · Public	$21,423	$22,192	N/A
50	CUNY Hunter College New York, NY · Public	$6,908	$25,194	N/A

Top Earners in Film/Video and Photographic Arts

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.