Best Value / By Major

Best Value Colleges for Philosophy

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

50

Schools Ranked

$29,380

Avg. Earnings

1.8 yrs

Best Payback

2,128

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 Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA · Private	$12,020	$61,516	1.8 yrs
2	San Diego State University San Diego, CA · Public	$14,698	$46,456	5.1 yrs
3	Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, PA · Private	$21,526	$49,683	5.9 yrs
4	Colgate University Hamilton, NY · Private	$17,557	$43,798	8 yrs
5	Vanderbilt University Nashville, TN · Private	$7,694	$38,289	9.4 yrs
6	College of the Holy Cross Worcester, MA · Private	$20,142	$42,682	10.5 yrs
7	Fordham University Bronx, NY · Private	$31,221	$44,384	13.3 yrs
8	Binghamton University Vestal, NY · Public	$21,423	$40,896	14.5 yrs
9	Georgetown University Washington, DC · Private	$12,505	$38,289	15.2 yrs
10	Cornell University Ithaca, NY · Private	$9,785	$37,208	17.7 yrs
11	Arizona State University Campus Immersion Tempe, AZ · Public	$15,561	$38,289	18.9 yrs
12	University of San Francisco San Francisco, CA · Private	$36,818	$41,565	22.4 yrs
13	Illinois State University Normal, IL · Public	$19,293	$38,289	23.5 yrs
14	Clemson University Clemson, SC · Public	$20,797	$38,289	25.3 yrs
15	Suffolk University Boston, MA · Private	$29,611	$38,829	30.9 yrs
16	Gustavus Adolphus College Saint Peter, MN · Private	$20,188	$37,568	31.4 yrs
17	The University of Texas at Austin Austin, TX · Public	$16,134	$36,848	34.9 yrs
18	St. John's University-New York Queens, NY · Private	$27,080	$37,568	42.2 yrs
19	University of North Texas Denton, TX · Public	$14,132	$36,141	49.5 yrs
20	St Olaf College Northfield, MN · Private	$15,453	$35,416	148.6 yrs
21	Boston College Chestnut Hill, MA · Private	$17,098	$33,281	N/A
22	William & Mary Williamsburg, VA · Public	$10,995	$33,993	N/A
23	University of California-Santa Barbara Santa Barbara, CA · Public	$14,583	$31,314	N/A
24	University of Chicago Chicago, IL · Private	$8,375	$33,993	N/A
25	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chapel Hill, NC · Public	$11,619	$18,154	N/A
26	Seton Hall University South Orange, NJ · Private	$30,127	$20,140	N/A
27	University of Massachusetts-Lowell Lowell, MA · Public	$17,113	$21,964	N/A
28	Boston University Boston, MA · Private	$18,458	$26,353	N/A
29	CUNY Brooklyn College Brooklyn, NY · Public	$7,219	$26,353	N/A
30	University of Michigan-Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, MI · Public	$10,481	$32,563	N/A
31	Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus University Park, PA · Public	$27,137	$24,421	N/A
32	Pennsylvania State University-World Campus University Park, PA · Public	$19,223	$24,421	N/A
33	University of Maryland-College Park College Park, MD · Public	$17,360	$33,281	N/A
34	University of California-Berkeley Berkeley, CA · Public	$13,423	$20,824	N/A
35	University of California-Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA · Public	$12,644	$29,322	N/A
36	University of Washington-Seattle Campus Seattle, WA · Public	$8,393	$33,664	N/A
37	University of Washington-Bothell Campus Bothell, WA · Public	$9,439	$33,664	N/A
38	University of Wisconsin-Madison Madison, WI · Public	$10,364	$28,236	N/A
39	Loyola University Chicago Chicago, IL · Private	$32,229	$19,455	N/A
40	Georgia State University Atlanta, GA · Public	$18,466	$28,055	N/A
41	University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Milwaukee, WI · Public	$17,606	$27,669	N/A
42	University of Oregon Eugene, OR · Public	$16,014	$24,267	N/A
43	University of California-Davis Davis, CA · Public	$14,193	$28,960	N/A
44	West Virginia University Morgantown, WV · Public	$13,077	$24,267	N/A
45	Columbia University in the City of New York New York, NY · Private	$8,106	$28,598	N/A
46	University of Houston Houston, TX · Public	$13,382	$29,685	N/A
47	Ohio State University-Main Campus Columbus, OH · Public	$13,273	$31,133	N/A
48	University of Arizona Tucson, AZ · Public	$13,644	$26,187	N/A
49	University of Massachusetts-Boston Boston, MA · Public	$17,689	$29,685	N/A
50	Texas A&M University-College Station College Station, TX · Public	$17,525	$29,685	N/A

Top Earners in Philosophy

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.