Best Value / By Major

Best Value Colleges for Literature

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

9

Schools Ranked

$28,232

Avg. Earnings

N/A

Best Payback

275

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	Pace University New York, NY · Private	$28,066	$21,781	N/A
2	American University Washington, DC · Private	$27,374	$32,563	N/A
3	SUNY at Purchase College Purchase, NY · Public	$18,347	$21,234	N/A
4	University of Pittsburgh-Greensburg Greensburg, PA · Public	$15,996	$33,687	N/A
5	University of Pittsburgh-Johnstown Johnstown, PA · Public	$17,271	$33,687	N/A
6	University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh Campus Pittsburgh, PA · Public	$24,139	$33,687	N/A
7	The New School New York, NY · Private	$40,659	$21,703	N/A
8	Grand Canyon University Phoenix, AZ · For-Profit	$20,787	$30,554	N/A
9	University of California-Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA · Public	$12,644	$25,194	N/A

Top Earners in Literature

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.