Best Value Colleges for Materials Sciences
Schools ranked by payback period — how quickly you recoup your investment through higher earnings.
4
Schools Ranked
$60,092
Avg. Earnings
1.7 yrs
Best Payback
100
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 | Major Earnings | Payback |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | University of Arizona Tucson, AZ · Public | $67,101 | 1.7 yrs |
| 2 | Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Abington Abington, PA · Public | $63,005 | 2.9 yrs |
| 3 | Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus University Park, PA · Public | $63,005 | 3.9 yrs |
| 4 | Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, PA · Private | $47,260 | 7 yrs |
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.