Best Value / By Major

Best Value Colleges for Natural Resources Conservation and Research

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

50

Schools Ranked

$32,304

Avg. Earnings

<1 yr

Best Payback

13,751

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	Yale University New Haven, CT · Private	$2,815	$60,161	<1 yr
2	California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo San Luis Obispo, CA · Public	$17,340	$59,124	2.9 yrs
3	Massachusetts Maritime Academy Buzzards Bay, MA · Public	$12,099	$50,231	3.2 yrs
4	University of Houston-Clear Lake Houston, TX · Public	$14,952	$52,107	3.5 yrs
5	California State University-East Bay Hayward, CA · Public	$15,615	$52,107	3.7 yrs
6	University of California-Berkeley Berkeley, CA · Public	$13,423	$46,673	4.6 yrs
7	San Jose State University San Jose, CA · Public	$17,338	$48,041	5.3 yrs
8	Minnesota State University-Mankato Mankato, MN · Public	$14,995	$43,798	6.8 yrs
9	Oakland University Rochester Hills, MI · Public	$12,008	$41,844	7 yrs
10	Colgate University Hamilton, NY · Private	$17,557	$44,942	7.1 yrs
11	Middlebury College Middlebury, VT · Private	$13,580	$42,188	7.6 yrs
12	University of Nebraska at Omaha Omaha, NE · Public	$13,574	$42,123	7.6 yrs
13	University of California-Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA · Public	$12,644	$41,565	7.7 yrs
14	Bucknell University Lewisburg, PA · Private	$26,956	$48,041	8.3 yrs
15	University of California-Davis Davis, CA · Public	$14,193	$41,406	8.9 yrs
16	University of Georgia Athens, GA · Public	$15,037	$41,565	9.2 yrs
17	Brown University Providence, RI · Private	$10,219	$39,369	9.4 yrs
18	CUNY Queens College Queens, NY · Public	$7,582	$37,779	10.9 yrs
19	Colorado Mesa University Grand Junction, CO · Public	$16,572	$41,025	11 yrs
20	Tufts University Medford, MA · Private	$19,827	$41,937	11.4 yrs
21	Stephen F Austin State University Nacogdoches, TX · Public	$13,192	$39,369	12.1 yrs
22	Villanova University Villanova, PA · Private	$28,580	$43,798	13 yrs
23	Metropolitan State University of Denver Denver, CO · Public	$14,679	$39,369	13.4 yrs
24	University of North Georgia Dahlonega, GA · Public	$11,005	$38,289	13.4 yrs
25	Drexel University Philadelphia, PA · Private	$33,921	$44,170	14.8 yrs
26	Indiana University-Bloomington Bloomington, IN · Public	$12,369	$38,337	14.8 yrs
27	Duke University Durham, NC · Private	$7,160	$36,848	15.5 yrs
28	Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Blacksburg, VA · Public	$18,372	$39,729	15.5 yrs
29	Texas A&M University-College Station College Station, TX · Public	$17,525	$39,523	15.5 yrs
30	American University Washington, DC · Private	$27,374	$41,992	15.7 yrs
31	Arizona State University Campus Immersion Tempe, AZ · Public	$15,561	$38,906	15.9 yrs
32	Illinois Wesleyan University Bloomington, IL · Private	$31,095	$42,682	16.2 yrs
33	California State University-Sacramento Sacramento, CA · Public	$12,602	$38,018	16.7 yrs
34	University of Denver Denver, CO · Private	$27,767	$41,565	16.9 yrs
35	Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania Shippensburg, PA · Public	$22,033	$40,068	17.4 yrs
36	William Paterson University of New Jersey Wayne, NJ · Public	$19,749	$39,369	18.1 yrs
37	Drew University Madison, NJ · Private	$20,243	$39,369	18.5 yrs
38	University of Southern Maine Portland, ME · Public	$12,238	$37,568	19.1 yrs
39	Kutztown University of Pennsylvania Kutztown, PA · Public	$22,881	$39,214	21.7 yrs
40	University of California-Santa Barbara Santa Barbara, CA · Public	$14,583	$37,568	22.7 yrs
41	Georgia College & State University Milledgeville, GA · Public	$19,656	$38,289	23.9 yrs
42	San Diego State University San Diego, CA · Public	$14,698	$37,208	26.6 yrs
43	Rowan University Glassboro, NJ · Public	$27,278	$39,009	27.2 yrs
44	University of Southern California Los Angeles, CA · Private	$22,826	$38,313	27.6 yrs
45	Southern New Hampshire University Manchester, NH · Private	$41,757	$41,007	27.8 yrs
46	University of Houston Houston, TX · Public	$13,382	$36,848	29 yrs
47	George Mason University Fairfax, VA · Public	$19,066	$37,568	29.7 yrs
48	University at Albany Albany, NY · Public	$19,727	$37,568	30.7 yrs
49	Occidental College Los Angeles, CA · Private	$18,209	$37,208	33 yrs
50	Northeastern University Boston, MA · Private	$18,389	$37,208	33.3 yrs

Top Earners in Natural Resources Conservation and Research

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.