Best Value / By Major

Best Value Colleges for Foods, Nutrition, and Related Services

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

50

Schools Ranked

$31,449

Avg. Earnings

5.9 yrs

Best Payback

5,933

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	Indiana State University Terre Haute, IN · Public	$15,588	$45,529	5.9 yrs
2	University of Akron Main Campus Akron, OH · Public	$18,860	$41,937	10.9 yrs
3	University of Missouri-Columbia Columbia, MO · Public	$13,715	$39,909	11.2 yrs
4	Stephen F Austin State University Nacogdoches, TX · Public	$13,192	$38,289	16 yrs
5	University of Georgia Athens, GA · Public	$15,037	$38,289	18.3 yrs
6	Framingham State University Framingham, MA · Public	$19,068	$37,699	28.3 yrs
7	Ohio State University-Main Campus Columbus, OH · Public	$13,273	$36,793	29.6 yrs
8	Rochester Institute of Technology Rochester, NY · Private	$31,935	$38,429	37.3 yrs
9	Texas Woman's University Denton, TX · Public	$10,508	$36,104	38.1 yrs
10	Oregon State University-Cascades Campus Bend, OR · Public	$20,523	$36,077	76.2 yrs
11	Oregon State University Corvallis, OR · Public	$21,716	$36,077	80.7 yrs
12	Georgia Southern University Statesboro, GA · Public	$16,181	$35,416	155.6 yrs
13	Texas State University San Marcos, TX · Public	$12,996	$35,060	866.4 yrs
14	Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Blacksburg, VA · Public	$18,372	$28,133	N/A
15	The University of Texas at Austin Austin, TX · Public	$16,134	$33,281	N/A
16	Morgan State University Baltimore, MD · Public	$18,305	$29,685	N/A
17	Oklahoma State University-Main Campus Stillwater, OK · Public	$14,127	$25,194	N/A
18	University of Nebraska-Lincoln Lincoln, NE · Public	$15,394	$31,042	N/A
19	University of Idaho Moscow, ID · Public	$13,998	$30,228	N/A
20	Montclair State University Montclair, NJ · Public	$18,026	$30,771	N/A
21	James Madison University Harrisonburg, VA · Public	$19,216	$30,228	N/A
22	Lamar University Beaumont, TX · Public	$13,580	$25,194	N/A
23	Texas A&M University-College Station College Station, TX · Public	$17,525	$28,719	N/A
24	Syracuse University Syracuse, NY · Private	$23,533	$28,236	N/A
25	Ohio University-Main Campus Athens, OH · Public	$23,509	$33,993	N/A
26	University of Kentucky Lexington, KY · Public	$16,708	$20,921	N/A
27	University of Arkansas Fayetteville, AR · Public	$16,256	$33,043	N/A
28	Middle Tennessee State University Murfreesboro, TN · Public	$14,498	$30,305	N/A
29	Arizona State University Campus Immersion Tempe, AZ · Public	$15,561	$31,894	N/A
30	Indiana University of Pennsylvania-Main Campus Indiana, PA · Public	$22,726	$28,327	N/A
31	California State University-Chico Chico, CA · Public	$16,738	$34,348	N/A
32	Johnson & Wales University-Providence Providence, RI · Private	$28,090	$32,707	N/A
33	Johnson & Wales University-Charlotte Charlotte, NC · Private	$26,572	$32,707	N/A
34	Sam Houston State University Huntsville, TX · Public	$14,927	$28,019	N/A
35	University of Houston Houston, TX · Public	$13,382	$26,264	N/A
36	Winthrop University Rock Hill, SC · Public	$19,051	$21,508	N/A
37	University of Central Arkansas Conway, AR · Public	$16,798	$25,194	N/A
38	Utah State University Logan, UT · Public	$13,553	$26,739	N/A
39	Southern Utah University Cedar City, UT · Public	$13,460	$20,140	N/A
40	Benedictine University Lisle, IL · Private	$26,188	$29,685	N/A
41	California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo San Luis Obispo, CA · Public	$17,340	$34,603	N/A
42	Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus University Park, PA · Public	$27,137	$34,145	N/A
43	Seattle Pacific University Seattle, WA · Private	$24,278	$33,281	N/A
44	The University of Tennessee-Knoxville Knoxville, TN · Public	$22,476	$32,563	N/A
45	Colorado State University-Fort Collins Fort Collins, CO · Public	$15,086	$32,119	N/A
46	Bradley University Peoria, IL · Private	$23,286	$30,228	N/A
47	New York University New York, NY · Private	$31,355	$28,019	N/A
48	Murray State University Murray, KY · Public	$11,244	$27,439	N/A
49	Texas Tech University Lubbock, TX · Public	$15,248	$27,307	N/A
50	University of Massachusetts-Amherst Amherst, MA · Public	$16,667	$25,194	N/A

Top Earners in Foods, Nutrition, and Related Services

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.