Best Value / By Major

Best Value Colleges for Political Science and Government

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

50

Schools Ranked

$34,409

Avg. Earnings

<1 yr

Best Payback

32,881

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	Harvard University Cambridge, MA · Private	$2,669	$57,017	<1 yr
2	Yale University New Haven, CT · Private	$2,815	$48,823	<1 yr
3	Williams College Williamstown, MA · Private	$5,576	$51,482	1.4 yrs
4	Columbia University in the City of New York New York, NY · Private	$8,106	$56,415	1.5 yrs
5	Duke University Durham, NC · Private	$7,160	$54,463	1.5 yrs
6	Rice University Houston, TX · Private	$6,152	$50,231	1.6 yrs
7	Dartmouth College Hanover, NH · Private	$12,172	$62,192	1.8 yrs
8	Colby College Waterville, ME · Private	$5,536	$47,118	1.8 yrs
9	Princeton University Princeton, NJ · Private	$5,542	$47,260	1.8 yrs
10	Northwestern University Evanston, IL · Private	$5,849	$47,846	1.8 yrs
11	Cornell University Ithaca, NY · Private	$9,785	$52,107	2.3 yrs
12	Brown University Providence, RI · Private	$10,219	$53,108	2.3 yrs
13	Amherst College Amherst, MA · Private	$7,793	$48,432	2.3 yrs
14	Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, MD · Private	$8,457	$47,260	2.8 yrs
15	Hamilton College Clinton, NY · Private	$13,321	$53,894	2.8 yrs
16	Wake Forest University Winston-Salem, NC · Private	$10,228	$49,618	2.8 yrs
17	Georgetown University Washington, DC · Private	$12,505	$52,524	2.9 yrs
18	University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA · Private	$12,020	$50,677	3.1 yrs
19	Vanderbilt University Nashville, TN · Private	$7,694	$43,798	3.5 yrs
20	Colgate University Hamilton, NY · Private	$17,557	$53,358	3.8 yrs
21	Bowdoin College Brunswick, ME · Private	$14,896	$50,231	3.9 yrs
22	Washington and Lee University Lexington, VA · Private	$6,505	$41,007	4.3 yrs
23	University of Minnesota-Morris Morris, MN · Public	$6,691	$41,193	4.3 yrs
24	University of Virginia-Main Campus Charlottesville, VA · Public	$16,019	$48,432	4.8 yrs
25	William & Mary Williamsburg, VA · Public	$10,995	$44,117	4.8 yrs
26	Purdue University-Main Campus West Lafayette, IN · Public	$8,450	$41,937	4.9 yrs
27	Northeastern University Boston, MA · Private	$18,389	$49,744	5 yrs
28	University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, IN · Private	$14,020	$45,696	5.2 yrs
29	University of California-Berkeley Berkeley, CA · Public	$13,423	$45,220	5.3 yrs
30	Brigham Young University-Idaho Rexburg, ID · Private	$5,422	$39,009	5.4 yrs
31	Lafayette College Easton, PA · Private	$13,393	$44,468	5.7 yrs
32	University of Chicago Chicago, IL · Private	$8,375	$40,872	5.7 yrs
33	Stanford University Stanford, CA · Private	$7,081	$39,927	5.7 yrs
34	Bucknell University Lewisburg, PA · Private	$26,956	$52,941	6 yrs
35	Connecticut College New London, CT · Private	$16,044	$45,696	6 yrs
36	Barnard College New York, NY · Private	$19,810	$47,846	6.2 yrs
37	Saint Mary's College Notre Dame, IN · Private	$16,625	$45,715	6.2 yrs
38	Lehigh University Bethlehem, PA · Private	$19,026	$46,790	6.5 yrs
39	California State University-East Bay Hayward, CA · Public	$15,615	$44,356	6.7 yrs
40	Southern Methodist University Dallas, TX · Private	$29,892	$52,941	6.7 yrs
41	University of Connecticut-Avery Point Groton, CT · Public	$9,414	$40,555	6.8 yrs
42	George Washington University Washington, DC · Private	$21,174	$47,142	7 yrs
43	College of the Holy Cross Worcester, MA · Private	$20,142	$46,357	7.1 yrs
44	University of Connecticut-Waterbury Campus Waterbury, CT · Public	$10,112	$40,555	7.3 yrs
45	Boston College Chestnut Hill, MA · Private	$17,098	$44,276	7.4 yrs
46	University of Connecticut-Hartford Campus Hartford, CT · Public	$10,515	$40,555	7.6 yrs
47	University of Michigan-Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, MI · Public	$10,481	$40,305	7.9 yrs
48	University of Maryland-College Park College Park, MD · Public	$17,360	$43,128	8.5 yrs
49	Morehead State University Morehead, KY · Public	$13,087	$41,193	8.5 yrs
50	University of Rochester Rochester, NY · Private	$23,108	$45,696	8.6 yrs

Top Earners in Political Science and Government

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.