Best Value / By Major

Best Value Colleges for Plant Sciences

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

50

Schools Ranked

$37,466

Avg. Earnings

2.1 yrs

Best Payback

1,905

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	California State University-Fresno Fresno, CA · Public	$8,030	$50,606	2.1 yrs
2	Washington State University Pullman, WA · Public	$14,233	$56,415	2.7 yrs
3	University of Connecticut-Avery Point Groton, CT · Public	$9,414	$45,696	3.5 yrs
4	South Dakota State University Brookings, SD · Public	$18,826	$55,151	3.7 yrs
5	University of Minnesota-Crookston Crookston, MN · Public	$9,084	$44,830	3.7 yrs
6	University of Connecticut-Waterbury Campus Waterbury, CT · Public	$10,112	$45,696	3.8 yrs
7	University of Connecticut-Hartford Campus Hartford, CT · Public	$10,515	$45,696	3.9 yrs
8	Northwest Missouri State University Maryville, MO · Public	$12,127	$47,260	4 yrs
9	West Texas A & M University Canyon, TX · Public	$14,196	$48,432	4.2 yrs
10	University of Wisconsin-Platteville Platteville, WI · Public	$13,699	$46,321	4.8 yrs
11	Iowa State University Ames, IA · Public	$14,641	$46,395	5.1 yrs
12	University of Connecticut-Stamford Stamford, CT · Public	$15,152	$45,696	5.7 yrs
13	University of Nebraska-Lincoln Lincoln, NE · Public	$15,394	$44,666	6.4 yrs
14	California State University-Chico Chico, CA · Public	$16,738	$45,181	6.6 yrs
15	California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo San Luis Obispo, CA · Public	$17,340	$44,869	7 yrs
16	University of Wisconsin-River Falls River Falls, WI · Public	$14,528	$43,128	7.1 yrs
17	Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Mont Alto Mont Alto, PA · Public	$16,766	$44,091	7.4 yrs
18	University of Connecticut Storrs, CT · Public	$20,344	$45,696	7.6 yrs
19	Ohio State University-Main Campus Columbus, OH · Public	$13,273	$41,464	8.2 yrs
20	Kansas State University Manhattan, KS · Public	$16,868	$41,565	10.3 yrs
21	Texas A&M University-Kingsville Kingsville, TX · Public	$13,939	$40,048	11 yrs
22	University of Wyoming Laramie, WY · Public	$9,394	$38,289	11.4 yrs
23	Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus University Park, PA · Public	$27,137	$44,091	11.9 yrs
24	California State Polytechnic University-Humboldt Arcata, CA · Public	$16,716	$39,927	13.6 yrs
25	University of Kentucky Lexington, KY · Public	$16,708	$39,729	14.1 yrs
26	Auburn University Auburn, AL · Public	$23,468	$40,896	15.9 yrs
27	Arkansas State University Jonesboro, AR · Public	$14,698	$38,289	17.9 yrs
28	Utah State University Logan, UT · Public	$13,553	$37,568	21.1 yrs
29	Cornell University Ithaca, NY · Private	$9,785	$36,668	23.5 yrs
30	University of California-Davis Davis, CA · Public	$14,193	$36,852	30.7 yrs
31	Mississippi State University Mississippi State, MS · Public	$18,449	$36,992	37 yrs
32	University of Missouri-Columbia Columbia, MO · Public	$13,715	$36,131	48.5 yrs
33	Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Blacksburg, VA · Public	$18,372	$36,312	56 yrs
34	Southern Illinois University-Carbondale Carbondale, IL · Public	$14,499	$35,416	139.4 yrs
35	University of Wisconsin-Madison Madison, WI · Public	$10,364	$35,060	690.9 yrs
36	University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Champaign, IL · Public	$11,505	$35,060	767 yrs
37	California State Polytechnic University-Pomona Pomona, CA · Public	$15,958	$33,993	N/A
38	The University of Tennessee-Knoxville Knoxville, TN · Public	$22,476	$23,649	N/A
39	Oregon State University Corvallis, OR · Public	$21,716	$31,915	N/A
40	Oregon State University-Cascades Campus Bend, OR · Public	$20,523	$31,915	N/A
41	University of Florida Gainesville, FL · Public	$8,394	$31,038	N/A
42	Clemson University Clemson, SC · Public	$20,797	$33,565	N/A
43	University of Minnesota-Twin Cities Minneapolis, MN · Public	$12,911	$24,615	N/A
44	North Carolina State University at Raleigh Raleigh, NC · Public	$14,424	$34,526	N/A
45	SUNY College of Agriculture and Technology at Cobleskill Cobleskill, NY · Public	$18,262	$26,715	N/A
46	West Virginia University Morgantown, WV · Public	$13,077	$25,774	N/A
47	Delaware Valley University Doylestown, PA · Private	$26,766	$30,771	N/A
48	University of Idaho Moscow, ID · Public	$13,998	$33,993	N/A
49	Missouri State University-Springfield Springfield, MO · Public	$15,950	$31,708	N/A
50	Montana State University Bozeman, MT · Public	$19,942	$33,993	N/A

Top Earners in Plant Sciences

See schools ranked by earnings alone, without considering cost.

Best Value Rankings

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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.