Best Value / By Major

Best Value Colleges for Mechanical Engineering

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

50

Schools Ranked

$64,585

Avg. Earnings

<1 yr

Best Payback

39,638

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	Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, MA · Private	$2,834	$79,647	<1 yr
2	Duke University Durham, NC · Private	$7,160	$80,964	<1 yr
3	Northwestern University Evanston, IL · Private	$5,849	$73,112	<1 yr
4	Stanford University Stanford, CA · Private	$7,081	$78,343	<1 yr
5	Rice University Houston, TX · Private	$6,152	$68,219	<1 yr
6	Brigham Young University-Idaho Rexburg, ID · Private	$5,422	$64,493	<1 yr
7	California Institute of Technology Pasadena, CA · Private	$9,755	$83,177	<1 yr
8	Columbia University in the City of New York New York, NY · Private	$8,106	$69,338	<1 yr
9	Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, MD · Private	$8,457	$71,015	<1 yr
10	Purdue University-Main Campus West Lafayette, IN · Public	$8,450	$71,255	<1 yr
11	Vanderbilt University Nashville, TN · Private	$7,694	$69,817	<1 yr
12	CUNY City College New York, NY · Public	$7,521	$68,618	<1 yr
13	Florida International University Miami, FL · Public	$7,292	$66,897	<1 yr
14	University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA · Private	$12,020	$80,858	1 yrs
15	Cornell University Ithaca, NY · Private	$9,785	$74,687	1 yrs
16	University of Michigan-Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, MI · Public	$10,481	$76,070	1 yrs
17	University of Florida Gainesville, FL · Public	$8,394	$67,427	1 yrs
18	University of Florida-Online Gainesville, FL · Public	$8,251	$67,427	1 yrs
19	Washington University in St Louis St. Louis, MO · Private	$8,149	$67,995	1 yrs
20	Oakland University Rochester Hills, MI · Public	$12,008	$76,962	1.1 yrs
21	University of Wisconsin-Madison Madison, WI · Public	$10,364	$71,633	1.1 yrs
22	University of Michigan-Dearborn Dearborn, MI · Public	$12,398	$80,486	1.1 yrs
23	University of Connecticut-Avery Point Groton, CT · Public	$9,414	$69,013	1.1 yrs
24	University of Washington-Tacoma Campus Tacoma, WA · Public	$8,147	$61,218	1.2 yrs
25	University of Connecticut-Waterbury Campus Waterbury, CT · Public	$10,112	$69,013	1.2 yrs
26	University of Connecticut-Hartford Campus Hartford, CT · Public	$10,515	$69,013	1.2 yrs
27	The University of Texas Permian Basin Odessa, TX · Public	$10,549	$69,732	1.2 yrs
28	University of California-Berkeley Berkeley, CA · Public	$13,423	$75,518	1.3 yrs
29	University of Washington-Seattle Campus Seattle, WA · Public	$8,393	$61,218	1.3 yrs
30	University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Champaign, IL · Public	$11,505	$71,144	1.3 yrs
31	Wayne State University Detroit, MI · Public	$13,612	$75,921	1.3 yrs
32	Michigan Technological University Houghton, MI · Public	$11,794	$71,637	1.3 yrs
33	California State University-Fresno Fresno, CA · Public	$8,030	$60,230	1.3 yrs
34	The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Edinburg, TX · Public	$5,452	$52,107	1.3 yrs
35	California State University-Fullerton Fullerton, CA · Public	$9,017	$62,792	1.3 yrs
36	Franklin W Olin College of Engineering Needham, MA · Private	$14,300	$78,343	1.3 yrs
37	University of Washington-Bothell Campus Bothell, WA · Public	$9,439	$61,218	1.4 yrs
38	California State University-Northridge Northridge, CA · Public	$10,780	$66,756	1.4 yrs
39	Lamar University Beaumont, TX · Public	$13,580	$73,446	1.4 yrs
40	Ohio State University-Main Campus Columbus, OH · Public	$13,273	$73,052	1.4 yrs
41	California State University-Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA · Public	$5,700	$50,856	1.4 yrs
42	Missouri University of Science and Technology Rolla, MO · Public	$11,656	$68,939	1.4 yrs
43	University of Alaska Fairbanks Fairbanks, AK · Public	$11,587	$68,219	1.4 yrs
44	West Virginia University Institute of Technology Beckley, WV · Public	$10,775	$65,457	1.4 yrs
45	University of Central Florida Orlando, FL · Public	$9,426	$61,516	1.4 yrs
46	Wright State University-Lake Campus Celina, OH · Public	$10,115	$64,307	1.4 yrs
47	SUNY Maritime College Throggs Neck, NY · Public	$19,992	$87,973	1.5 yrs
48	University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, IN · Private	$14,020	$71,320	1.5 yrs
49	California State University-Long Beach Long Beach, CA · Public	$11,189	$65,029	1.5 yrs
50	University of Houston Houston, TX · Public	$13,382	$71,202	1.5 yrs

Top Earners in Mechanical Engineering

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.