Best Value / By Major

Best Value Colleges for International/Global Studies

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

50

Schools Ranked

$32,516

Avg. Earnings

1 yrs

Best Payback

4,246

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	University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA · Private	$12,020	$84,653	1 yrs
2	University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, IN · Private	$14,020	$57,318	2.5 yrs
3	Colby College Waterville, ME · Private	$5,536	$42,682	2.9 yrs
4	University of California-Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA · Public	$12,644	$43,798	5.7 yrs
5	Boston College Chestnut Hill, MA · Private	$17,098	$42,682	8.9 yrs
6	University of California-San Diego La Jolla, CA · Public	$14,310	$41,087	9.4 yrs
7	Brandeis University Waltham, MA · Private	$24,183	$45,249	9.4 yrs
8	The University of Texas at Austin Austin, TX · Public	$16,134	$40,473	11.8 yrs
9	Arizona State University Campus Immersion Tempe, AZ · Public	$15,561	$39,467	13.9 yrs
10	University of Dayton Dayton, OH · Private	$25,633	$41,565	15.6 yrs
11	Southern Methodist University Dallas, TX · Private	$29,892	$42,682	15.6 yrs
12	University of Utah Salt Lake City, UT · Public	$13,842	$38,289	16.8 yrs
13	University of Maryland-Baltimore County Baltimore, MD · Public	$20,879	$38,289	25.4 yrs
14	Drexel University Philadelphia, PA · Private	$33,921	$39,369	31.1 yrs
15	Texas A&M University-College Station College Station, TX · Public	$17,525	$37,208	31.7 yrs
16	University of California-Irvine Irvine, CA · Public	$13,275	$36,049	50.6 yrs
17	Spelman College Atlanta, GA · Private	$41,579	$37,748	60.5 yrs
18	Providence College Providence, RI · Private	$26,014	$36,674	62.2 yrs
19	Hofstra University Hempstead, NY · Private	$33,635	$36,848	72.8 yrs
20	North Carolina State University at Raleigh Raleigh, NC · Public	$14,424	$25,194	N/A
21	University of Michigan-Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, MI · Public	$10,481	$33,993	N/A
22	Kenyon College Gambier, OH · Private	$20,727	$29,685	N/A
23	The University of the South Sewanee, TN · Private	$28,660	$28,960	N/A
24	University of Central Florida Orlando, FL · Public	$9,426	$28,816	N/A
25	University of Oklahoma-Norman Campus Norman, OK · Public	$21,725	$32,925	N/A
26	University of California-Santa Barbara Santa Barbara, CA · Public	$14,583	$34,660	N/A
27	Michigan State University East Lansing, MI · Public	$20,557	$30,988	N/A
28	University at Albany Albany, NY · Public	$19,727	$28,381	N/A
29	University of Wisconsin-Madison Madison, WI · Public	$10,364	$32,806	N/A
30	University of Colorado Denver/Anschutz Medical Campus Denver, CO · Public	$15,406	$32,711	N/A
31	Texas State University San Marcos, TX · Public	$12,996	$28,598	N/A
32	College of Charleston Charleston, SC · Public	$20,142	$22,485	N/A
33	University of Colorado Boulder Boulder, CO · Public	$18,204	$32,772	N/A
34	University of Florida Gainesville, FL · Public	$8,394	$25,194	N/A
35	Macalester College Saint Paul, MN · Private	$15,953	$34,526	N/A
36	University of Northern Colorado Greeley, CO · Public	$14,111	$18,315	N/A
37	University of North Carolina Wilmington Wilmington, NC · Public	$19,195	$33,993	N/A
38	University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Milwaukee, WI · Public	$17,606	$33,077	N/A
39	University of North Florida Jacksonville, FL · Public	$10,194	$29,902	N/A
40	University of Nebraska-Lincoln Lincoln, NE · Public	$15,394	$27,822	N/A
41	The New School New York, NY · Private	$40,659	$25,194	N/A
42	Arcadia University Glenside, PA · Private	$27,003	$24,035	N/A
43	University of Oregon Eugene, OR · Public	$16,014	$25,194	N/A
44	University of Vermont Burlington, VT · Public	$17,585	$33,565	N/A
45	University of North Carolina at Charlotte Charlotte, NC · Public	$16,938	$25,194	N/A
46	University of North Texas Denton, TX · Public	$14,132	$31,616	N/A
47	Middle Tennessee State University Murfreesboro, TN · Public	$14,498	$20,824	N/A
48	Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College Baton Rouge, LA · Public	$19,623	$23,803	N/A
49	University of Washington-Seattle Campus Seattle, WA · Public	$8,393	$33,459	N/A
50	University of Washington-Bothell Campus Bothell, WA · Public	$9,439	$33,459	N/A

Top Earners in International/Global Studies

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.