Best Value / By Major

Best Value Colleges for Marketing

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

50

Schools Ranked

$42,098

Avg. Earnings

<1 yr

Best Payback

48,218

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	Washington University in St Louis St. Louis, MO · Private	$8,149	$78,896	<1 yr
2	University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA · Private	$12,020	$68,592	1.4 yrs
3	Georgetown University Washington, DC · Private	$12,505	$64,121	1.7 yrs
4	University of Wisconsin-Madison Madison, WI · Public	$10,364	$59,556	1.7 yrs
5	Brigham Young University Provo, UT · Private	$12,676	$62,012	1.9 yrs
6	University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Champaign, IL · Public	$11,505	$59,029	1.9 yrs
7	University of Florida Gainesville, FL · Public	$8,394	$51,829	2 yrs
8	University of Connecticut-Avery Point Groton, CT · Public	$9,414	$52,107	2.2 yrs
9	Boston College Chestnut Hill, MA · Private	$17,098	$63,005	2.4 yrs
10	University of Connecticut-Waterbury Campus Waterbury, CT · Public	$10,112	$52,107	2.4 yrs
11	University of Minnesota-Twin Cities Minneapolis, MN · Public	$12,911	$56,681	2.4 yrs
12	University of Connecticut-Hartford Campus Hartford, CT · Public	$10,515	$52,107	2.5 yrs
13	North Carolina A & T State University Greensboro, NC · Public	$12,647	$54,661	2.6 yrs
14	University of Washington-Tacoma Campus Tacoma, WA · Public	$8,147	$47,013	2.7 yrs
15	University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, IN · Private	$14,020	$54,948	2.8 yrs
16	University of Washington-Seattle Campus Seattle, WA · Public	$8,393	$47,013	2.8 yrs
17	Washington State University Pullman, WA · Public	$14,233	$54,192	3 yrs
18	University of Washington-Bothell Campus Bothell, WA · Public	$9,439	$47,013	3.1 yrs
19	University of Arizona Tucson, AZ · Public	$13,644	$51,652	3.3 yrs
20	University of Michigan-Dearborn Dearborn, MI · Public	$12,398	$49,962	3.3 yrs
21	University of Connecticut-Stamford Stamford, CT · Public	$15,152	$52,107	3.5 yrs
22	University of Minnesota-Duluth Duluth, MN · Public	$13,364	$50,231	3.5 yrs
23	The University of Texas at Austin Austin, TX · Public	$16,134	$53,045	3.6 yrs
24	Central Michigan University Mount Pleasant, MI · Public	$15,720	$52,684	3.6 yrs
25	Lehigh University Bethlehem, PA · Private	$19,026	$55,151	3.8 yrs
26	Texas Tech University Lubbock, TX · Public	$15,248	$50,856	3.8 yrs
27	Michigan Technological University Houghton, MI · Public	$11,794	$47,260	3.8 yrs
28	Ohio State University-Main Campus Columbus, OH · Public	$13,273	$48,477	3.9 yrs
29	Miami University-Oxford Oxford, OH · Public	$23,513	$58,279	4 yrs
30	University of Maryland-College Park College Park, MD · Public	$17,360	$51,773	4.1 yrs
31	Michigan State University East Lansing, MI · Public	$20,557	$54,996	4.1 yrs
32	Utah State University Logan, UT · Public	$13,553	$48,265	4.1 yrs
33	University of Georgia Athens, GA · Public	$15,037	$49,772	4.1 yrs
34	Concordia University-Saint Paul Saint Paul, MN · Private	$14,980	$49,464	4.1 yrs
35	University of West Florida Pensacola, FL · Public	$7,301	$42,123	4.1 yrs
36	Oakland University Rochester Hills, MI · Public	$12,008	$46,321	4.2 yrs
37	Florida State University Tallahassee, FL · Public	$11,506	$45,720	4.3 yrs
38	Arizona State University Campus Immersion Tempe, AZ · Public	$15,561	$49,443	4.3 yrs
39	The University of Texas at Dallas Richardson, TX · Public	$14,583	$48,510	4.3 yrs
40	Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Blacksburg, VA · Public	$18,372	$51,773	4.4 yrs
41	Pennsylvania State University-World Campus University Park, PA · Public	$19,223	$52,377	4.4 yrs
42	Elmhurst University Elmhurst, IL · Private	$18,435	$51,690	4.4 yrs
43	Texas State University San Marcos, TX · Public	$12,996	$46,790	4.4 yrs
44	Millikin University Decatur, IL · Private	$17,320	$50,439	4.5 yrs
45	Bowling Green State University-Main Campus Bowling Green, OH · Public	$18,606	$51,652	4.5 yrs
46	James Madison University Harrisonburg, VA · Public	$19,216	$51,794	4.6 yrs
47	Texas A&M University-College Station College Station, TX · Public	$17,525	$49,772	4.7 yrs
48	Fairleigh Dickinson University-Metropolitan Campus Teaneck, NJ · Private	$15,022	$47,729	4.7 yrs
49	Wittenberg University Springfield, OH · Private	$18,702	$50,856	4.7 yrs
50	University of Minnesota-Crookston Crookston, MN · Public	$9,084	$42,682	4.7 yrs

Top Earners in Marketing

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.