Best Value / By Major

Best Value Colleges for Microbiological Sciences and Immunology

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

50

Schools Ranked

$33,562

Avg. Earnings

4.7 yrs

Best Payback

1,844

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	North Carolina State University at Raleigh Raleigh, NC · Public	$14,424	$47,260	4.7 yrs
2	California State University-Long Beach Long Beach, CA · Public	$11,189	$43,798	5.1 yrs
3	North Dakota State University-Main Campus Fargo, ND · Public	$16,071	$44,091	7.1 yrs
4	San Jose State University San Jose, CA · Public	$17,338	$44,835	7.1 yrs
5	University of California-Berkeley Berkeley, CA · Public	$13,423	$41,565	8.2 yrs
6	University of Wisconsin-Madison Madison, WI · Public	$10,364	$38,289	12.6 yrs
7	San Francisco State University San Francisco, CA · Public	$16,065	$40,017	12.8 yrs
8	Miami University-Oxford Oxford, OH · Public	$23,513	$42,235	13 yrs
9	Texas State University San Marcos, TX · Public	$12,996	$39,009	13 yrs
10	University of California-Santa Barbara Santa Barbara, CA · Public	$14,583	$39,369	13.4 yrs
11	Iowa State University Ames, IA · Public	$14,641	$39,369	13.4 yrs
12	University of California-Davis Davis, CA · Public	$14,193	$38,597	15.8 yrs
13	Texas A&M University-College Station College Station, TX · Public	$17,525	$39,369	16 yrs
14	Oklahoma State University-Main Campus Stillwater, OK · Public	$14,127	$37,748	20.6 yrs
15	University of Iowa Iowa City, IA · Public	$18,026	$38,289	21.9 yrs
16	Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Blacksburg, VA · Public	$18,372	$38,289	22.3 yrs
17	Clemson University Clemson, SC · Public	$20,797	$38,289	25.3 yrs
18	University of Wisconsin-La Crosse La Crosse, WI · Public	$13,198	$36,992	26.5 yrs
19	University of Minnesota-Twin Cities Minneapolis, MN · Public	$12,911	$36,848	27.9 yrs
20	California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo San Luis Obispo, CA · Public	$17,340	$36,852	37.5 yrs
21	California State University-Chico Chico, CA · Public	$16,738	$36,042	64.3 yrs
22	Washington State University Pullman, WA · Public	$14,233	$35,701	81.2 yrs
23	University of Massachusetts-Amherst Amherst, MA · Public	$16,667	$35,774	86.1 yrs
24	University of Washington-Seattle Campus Seattle, WA · Public	$8,393	$32,119	N/A
25	University of California-Riverside Riverside, CA · Public	$11,126	$29,685	N/A
26	Texas Tech University Lubbock, TX · Public	$15,248	$33,993	N/A
27	Colorado State University-Fort Collins Fort Collins, CO · Public	$15,086	$33,459	N/A
28	Brigham Young University Provo, UT · Private	$12,676	$21,508	N/A
29	Ohio State University-Main Campus Columbus, OH · Public	$13,273	$34,704	N/A
30	University of Kansas Lawrence, KS · Public	$18,586	$33,993	N/A
31	University of California-Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA · Public	$12,644	$32,925	N/A
32	University of Florida Gainesville, FL · Public	$8,394	$23,134	N/A
33	University of Florida-Online Gainesville, FL · Public	$8,251	$23,134	N/A
34	Michigan State University East Lansing, MI · Public	$20,557	$34,420	N/A
35	University of Oklahoma-Norman Campus Norman, OK · Public	$21,725	$34,704	N/A
36	Montana State University Bozeman, MT · Public	$19,942	$33,565	N/A
37	Northern Arizona University Flagstaff, AZ · Public	$14,142	$33,459	N/A
38	University of Michigan-Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, MI · Public	$10,481	$16,169	N/A
39	University of South Florida Tampa, FL · Public	$9,669	$28,598	N/A
40	Arizona State University Campus Immersion Tempe, AZ · Public	$15,561	$33,565	N/A
41	University of Arizona Tucson, AZ · Public	$13,644	$31,719	N/A
42	The University of Texas at El Paso El Paso, TX · Public	$10,682	$32,925	N/A
43	Oregon State University Corvallis, OR · Public	$21,716	$32,051	N/A
44	Oregon State University-Cascades Campus Bend, OR · Public	$20,523	$32,051	N/A
45	University of Puerto Rico-Humacao Humacao, PR · Public	$11,942	$25,967	N/A
46	University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez Mayaguez, PR · Public	$11,994	$21,508	N/A
47	University of Puerto Rico-Arecibo Arecibo, PR · Public	$12,865	$14,627	N/A
48	The University of Texas at Arlington Arlington, TX · Public	$15,458	$33,993	N/A
49	University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Milwaukee, WI · Public	$17,606	$29,685	N/A
50	University of Hawaii at Manoa Honolulu, HI · Public	$15,183	$28,598	N/A

Top Earners in Microbiological Sciences and Immunology

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.