Best Value / By Major

Best Value Colleges for Physical Sciences, Other

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

3

Schools Ranked

$29,116

Avg. Earnings

19.9 yrs

Best Payback

24

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	Union College Schenectady, NY · Private	$24,375	$39,909	19.9 yrs
2	University of Mary Washington Fredericksburg, VA · Public	$19,728	$19,227	N/A
3	Northern Arizona University Flagstaff, AZ · Public	$14,142	$28,212	N/A

Top Earners in Physical Sciences, Other

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.