Best Value / By Major

Best Value Colleges for Non-Professional General Legal Studies (Undergraduate)

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

Schools Ranked

$36,740

Avg. Earnings

5.1 yrs

Best Payback

2,009

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	University of California-Berkeley Berkeley, CA · Public	$13,423	$45,500	5.1 yrs
2	University of Washington-Tacoma Campus Tacoma, WA · Public	$8,147	$41,007	5.4 yrs
3	University of Washington-Seattle Campus Seattle, WA · Public	$8,393	$41,007	5.6 yrs
4	National University San Diego, CA · Private	$23,427	$47,260	7.6 yrs
5	University of Wisconsin-Madison Madison, WI · Public	$10,364	$39,909	8.4 yrs
6	Pennsylvania State University-World Campus University Park, PA · Public	$19,223	$43,798	8.7 yrs
7	Hamline University Saint Paul, MN · Private	$19,028	$42,044	10.8 yrs
8	University of Central Oklahoma Edmond, OK · Public	$18,802	$41,565	11.5 yrs
9	Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus University Park, PA · Public	$27,137	$43,798	12.3 yrs
10	Webster University Saint Louis, MO · Private	$22,524	$41,789	13.3 yrs
11	American University Washington, DC · Private	$27,374	$42,728	14.2 yrs
12	University of Iowa Iowa City, IA · Public	$18,026	$39,585	15.7 yrs
13	Mercy University Dobbs Ferry, NY · Private	$17,281	$39,369	15.8 yrs
14	Post University Waterbury, CT · For-Profit	$12,267	$37,208	22.2 yrs
15	Keiser University-Ft Lauderdale Fort Lauderdale, FL · Private	$37,835	$39,369	34.6 yrs
16	Bay Path University Longmeadow, MA · Private	$24,041	$36,992	48.3 yrs
17	Northwestern University Evanston, IL · Private	$5,849	$35,416	56.2 yrs
18	University of Massachusetts-Amherst Amherst, MA · Public	$16,667	$35,772	86.4 yrs
19	Siena College Loudonville, NY · Private	$25,498	$35,954	106.9 yrs
20	University of Denver Denver, CO · Private	$27,767	$35,600	185.1 yrs
21	University of Miami Coral Gables, FL · Private	$38,999	$25,967	N/A
22	Michigan State University East Lansing, MI · Public	$20,557	$31,314	N/A
23	Ohio State University-Main Campus Columbus, OH · Public	$13,273	$34,230	N/A
24	Suffolk University Boston, MA · Private	$29,611	$32,391	N/A
25	University of California-Santa Cruz Santa Cruz, CA · Public	$15,567	$34,704	N/A
26	St. John's University-New York Queens, NY · Private	$27,080	$29,685	N/A
27	Arizona State University Campus Immersion Tempe, AZ · Public	$15,561	$33,993	N/A
28	CUNY John Jay College of Criminal Justice New York, NY · Public	$7,811	$32,925	N/A
29	Oakland University Rochester Hills, MI · Public	$12,008	$31,851	N/A
30	Hodges University Fort Myers, FL · Private	$20,698	$33,993	N/A
31	William Paterson University of New Jersey Wayne, NJ · Public	$19,749	$26,353	N/A
32	Nova Southeastern University Fort Lauderdale, FL · Private	$27,150	$25,194	N/A
33	Hood College Frederick, MD · Private	$24,167	$23,649	N/A

Top Earners in Non-Professional General Legal Studies (Undergraduate)

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.