Best Value / By Major

Best Value Colleges for Liberal Arts and Sciences, General Studies and Humanities

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

50

Schools Ranked

$32,217

Avg. Earnings

1.9 yrs

Best Payback

48,240

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	Georgetown University Washington, DC · Private	$12,505	$62,012	1.9 yrs
2	North Carolina State University at Raleigh Raleigh, NC · Public	$14,424	$55,964	2.8 yrs
3	St. Francis College Brooklyn, NY · Private	$14,129	$52,107	3.3 yrs
4	Metropolitan State University Saint Paul, MN · Public	$16,515	$54,713	3.4 yrs
5	DePaul University Chicago, IL · Private	$28,577	$59,756	4.6 yrs
6	Baker College Owosso, MI · Private	$12,281	$45,529	4.7 yrs
7	Bentley University Waltham, MA · Private	$31,754	$60,146	5.1 yrs
8	Arizona State University Campus Immersion Tempe, AZ · Public	$15,561	$45,852	5.7 yrs
9	Duquesne University Pittsburgh, PA · Private	$27,431	$52,107	6.4 yrs
10	East Central University Ada, OK · Public	$12,954	$42,682	6.7 yrs
11	Purdue University-Main Campus West Lafayette, IN · Public	$8,450	$40,017	6.7 yrs
12	Texas State University San Marcos, TX · Public	$12,996	$42,682	6.8 yrs
13	Oakland University Rochester Hills, MI · Public	$12,008	$41,937	6.9 yrs
14	Roosevelt University Chicago, IL · Private	$21,280	$47,327	6.9 yrs
15	Franklin and Marshall College Lancaster, PA · Private	$18,814	$45,852	6.9 yrs
16	Saint Joseph's University - Philadelphia Philadelphia, PA · Private	$26,825	$50,022	7.1 yrs
17	University of South Florida Tampa, FL · Public	$9,669	$39,774	8.1 yrs
18	University of Bridgeport Bridgeport, CT · Private	$25,156	$47,260	8.2 yrs
19	Texas Woman's University Denton, TX · Public	$10,508	$40,037	8.3 yrs
20	Belmont University Nashville, TN · Private	$26,313	$47,260	8.6 yrs
21	University of Dayton Dayton, OH · Private	$25,633	$45,696	9.6 yrs
22	William Jewell College Liberty, MO · Private	$21,625	$43,798	9.8 yrs
23	Providence College Providence, RI · Private	$26,014	$45,383	10 yrs
24	Eastern New Mexico University-Main Campus Portales, NM · Public	$10,322	$38,953	10.4 yrs
25	University of Connecticut-Avery Point Groton, CT · Public	$9,414	$38,485	10.8 yrs
26	Longwood University Farmville, VA · Public	$17,384	$41,119	11.4 yrs
27	California State University-East Bay Hayward, CA · Public	$15,615	$40,428	11.5 yrs
28	University of Central Florida Orlando, FL · Public	$9,426	$38,289	11.5 yrs
29	University of Connecticut-Waterbury Campus Waterbury, CT · Public	$10,112	$38,485	11.6 yrs
30	Blackburn College Carlinville, IL · Private	$16,186	$40,456	11.9 yrs
31	Bridgewater College Bridgewater, VA · Private	$19,772	$41,565	12 yrs
32	University of Connecticut-Hartford Campus Hartford, CT · Public	$10,515	$38,485	12.1 yrs
33	Pepperdine University Malibu, CA · Private	$32,267	$45,696	12.1 yrs
34	Notre Dame of Maryland University Baltimore, MD · Private	$21,581	$41,725	12.8 yrs
35	Southern New Hampshire University Manchester, NH · Private	$41,757	$47,846	13 yrs
36	Hobart William Smith Colleges Geneva, NY · Private	$26,463	$42,682	13.8 yrs
37	University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, IN · Private	$14,020	$39,009	14 yrs
38	University of Illinois Springfield Springfield, IL · Public	$11,492	$38,289	14 yrs
39	Champlain College Burlington, VT · Private	$32,288	$43,798	14.7 yrs
40	Southern Methodist University Dallas, TX · Private	$29,892	$43,128	14.7 yrs
41	Stockton University Galloway, NJ · Public	$21,350	$40,768	14.8 yrs
42	Saint Mary's College of California Moraga, CA · Private	$28,773	$42,682	15 yrs
43	CUNY Bernard M Baruch College New York, NY · Public	$7,187	$36,852	15.5 yrs
44	University of Indianapolis Indianapolis, IN · Private	$19,835	$40,132	15.5 yrs
45	Washington College Chestertown, MD · Private	$20,340	$40,188	15.7 yrs
46	Ohio State University-Main Campus Columbus, OH · Public	$13,273	$38,289	16.1 yrs
47	Marymount University Arlington, VA · Private	$22,571	$40,485	16.5 yrs
48	Wayne State University Detroit, MI · Public	$13,612	$38,289	16.6 yrs
49	Ramapo College of New Jersey Mahwah, NJ · Public	$22,026	$40,318	16.6 yrs
50	Rider University Lawrenceville, NJ · Private	$25,864	$41,007	17.2 yrs

Top Earners in Liberal Arts and Sciences, General Studies and Humanities

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.