Best Value / By Major

Best Value Colleges for Human Development, Family Studies, and Related Services

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

50

Schools Ranked

$29,701

Avg. Earnings

6 yrs

Best Payback

19,579

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	Southwestern Christian University Bethany, OK · Private	$18,539	$47,260	6 yrs
2	California State University-East Bay Hayward, CA · Public	$15,615	$39,119	15.2 yrs
3	Concordia University-Wisconsin Mequon, WI · Private	$22,710	$38,491	26 yrs
4	Concordia University Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, MI · Private	$26,546	$38,491	30.4 yrs
5	University of Maryland-College Park College Park, MD · Public	$17,360	$36,815	38.3 yrs
6	University of Houston Houston, TX · Public	$13,382	$35,861	62.2 yrs
7	University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Champaign, IL · Public	$11,505	$35,701	65.6 yrs
8	Milligan University Milligan, TN · Private	$19,482	$36,134	68.7 yrs
9	Hope International University Fullerton, CA · Private	$19,753	$36,141	69.2 yrs
10	North Dakota State University-Main Campus Fargo, ND · Public	$16,071	$35,594	108.2 yrs
11	Lamar University Beaumont, TX · Public	$13,580	$35,060	905.3 yrs
12	Florida State University Tallahassee, FL · Public	$11,506	$27,533	N/A
13	Binghamton University Vestal, NY · Public	$21,423	$32,772	N/A
14	University of California-San Diego La Jolla, CA · Public	$14,310	$30,771	N/A
15	Warner Pacific University Portland, OR · Private	$21,919	$33,382	N/A
16	University of Georgia Athens, GA · Public	$15,037	$25,525	N/A
17	The University of Texas at Austin Austin, TX · Public	$16,134	$32,391	N/A
18	University of Wisconsin-Madison Madison, WI · Public	$10,364	$33,335	N/A
19	Washington State University Pullman, WA · Public	$14,233	$32,634	N/A
20	Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Blacksburg, VA · Public	$18,372	$29,549	N/A
21	University of Connecticut Storrs, CT · Public	$20,344	$33,459	N/A
22	University of Connecticut-Waterbury Campus Waterbury, CT · Public	$10,112	$33,459	N/A
23	University of Connecticut-Avery Point Groton, CT · Public	$9,414	$33,459	N/A
24	University of Connecticut-Stamford Stamford, CT · Public	$15,152	$33,459	N/A
25	University of Connecticut-Hartford Campus Hartford, CT · Public	$10,515	$33,459	N/A
26	Towson University Towson, MD · Public	$17,667	$29,685	N/A
27	Concordia University-Saint Paul Saint Paul, MN · Private	$14,980	$30,988	N/A
28	University of New Hampshire-Main Campus Durham, NH · Public	$20,896	$33,815	N/A
29	SUNY Oneonta Oneonta, NY · Public	$18,271	$32,094	N/A
30	Michigan State University East Lansing, MI · Public	$20,557	$30,520	N/A
31	Merrimack College North Andover, MA · Private	$30,079	$28,816	N/A
32	Colorado State University-Fort Collins Fort Collins, CO · Public	$15,086	$28,763	N/A
33	California State University-San Marcos San Marcos, CA · Public	$14,309	$29,775	N/A
34	Syracuse University Syracuse, NY · Private	$23,533	$31,314	N/A
35	Bowie State University Bowie, MD · Public	$18,560	$34,526	N/A
36	Oregon State University Corvallis, OR · Public	$21,716	$29,978	N/A
37	Oregon State University-Cascades Campus Bend, OR · Public	$20,523	$29,978	N/A
38	University of Vermont Burlington, VT · Public	$17,585	$33,993	N/A
39	Sonoma State University Rohnert Park, CA · Public	$17,985	$32,467	N/A
40	State University of New York at Plattsburgh Plattsburgh, NY · Public	$17,264	$29,250	N/A
41	University of Nevada-Reno Reno, NV · Public	$15,106	$29,940	N/A
42	Texas Tech University Lubbock, TX · Public	$15,248	$34,399	N/A
43	University of Arizona Tucson, AZ · Public	$13,644	$31,856	N/A
44	Fresno Pacific University Fresno, CA · Private	$18,293	$28,960	N/A
45	University of Florida Gainesville, FL · Public	$8,394	$28,790	N/A
46	University of Rhode Island Kingston, RI · Public	$18,131	$30,186	N/A
47	California State University-Fullerton Fullerton, CA · Public	$9,017	$27,764	N/A
48	Ohio State University-Main Campus Columbus, OH · Public	$13,273	$32,536	N/A
49	California State University-Bakersfield Bakersfield, CA · Public	$9,102	$23,456	N/A
50	Samford University Birmingham, AL · Private	$31,029	$24,035	N/A

Top Earners in Human Development, Family Studies, and Related Services

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.