Best Value Colleges for Operations Research
Schools ranked by payback period — how quickly you recoup your investment through higher earnings.
5
Schools Ranked
$73,589
Avg. Earnings
<1 yr
Best Payback
166
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 | Columbia University in the City of New York New York, NY · Private | $84,653 | <1 yr |
| 2 | Cornell University Ithaca, NY · Private | $85,538 | <1 yr |
| 3 | University of California-Berkeley Berkeley, CA · Public | $76,460 | 1.3 yrs |
| 4 | Southern Methodist University Dallas, TX · Private | $76,460 | 2.9 yrs |
| 5 | California State University-Northridge Northridge, CA · Public | $44,835 | 4.4 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.