Best Value / By Major

Best Value Colleges for Public Policy Analysis

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

Schools Ranked

$39,377

Avg. Earnings

<1 yr

Best Payback

1,298

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	Princeton University Princeton, NJ · Private	$5,542	$62,012	<1 yr
2	Duke University Durham, NC · Private	$7,160	$60,106	1.1 yrs
3	Rice University Houston, TX · Private	$6,152	$55,512	1.2 yrs
4	Vanderbilt University Nashville, TN · Private	$7,694	$57,318	1.4 yrs
5	Cornell University Ithaca, NY · Private	$9,785	$57,318	1.8 yrs
6	University of Chicago Chicago, IL · Private	$8,375	$52,663	1.9 yrs
7	Hamilton College Clinton, NY · Private	$13,321	$50,856	3.4 yrs
8	Dickinson College Carlisle, PA · Private	$19,300	$55,338	3.8 yrs
9	University of Michigan-Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, MI · Public	$10,481	$44,384	4.5 yrs
10	Northwestern University Evanston, IL · Private	$5,849	$39,009	5.8 yrs
11	Trinity College Hartford, CT · Private	$18,675	$47,260	6.1 yrs
12	Washington State University Pullman, WA · Public	$14,233	$42,682	7.4 yrs
13	Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Blacksburg, VA · Public	$18,372	$43,575	8.6 yrs
14	William & Mary Williamsburg, VA · Public	$10,995	$39,153	10.6 yrs
15	Hobart William Smith Colleges Geneva, NY · Private	$26,463	$44,942	10.6 yrs
16	Southern Methodist University Dallas, TX · Private	$29,892	$45,852	11 yrs
17	Mount Saint Mary's University Los Angeles, CA · Private	$33,649	$46,478	11.7 yrs
18	St. Mary's College of Maryland St. Mary's City, MD · Public	$15,300	$39,648	13.2 yrs
19	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chapel Hill, NC · Public	$11,619	$38,289	14.1 yrs
20	Michigan State University East Lansing, MI · Public	$20,557	$39,009	20.5 yrs
21	Arizona State University Campus Immersion Tempe, AZ · Public	$15,561	$36,560	39.9 yrs
22	University of Rhode Island Kingston, RI · Public	$18,131	$36,668	43.5 yrs
23	University of Mississippi University, MS · Public	$15,351	$35,416	147.6 yrs
24	Brandeis University Waltham, MA · Private	$24,183	$33,138	N/A
25	The University of Texas at Dallas Richardson, TX · Public	$14,583	$24,421	N/A
26	University of Connecticut Storrs, CT · Public	$20,344	$20,140	N/A
27	University of Connecticut-Waterbury Campus Waterbury, CT · Public	$10,112	$20,140	N/A
28	University of Connecticut-Avery Point Groton, CT · Public	$9,414	$20,140	N/A
29	University of Connecticut-Stamford Stamford, CT · Public	$15,152	$20,140	N/A
30	University of Connecticut-Hartford Campus Hartford, CT · Public	$10,515	$20,140	N/A
31	Regent University Virginia Beach, VA · Private	$24,954	$23,351	N/A
32	University of California-Riverside Riverside, CA · Public	$11,126	$27,181	N/A
33	Georgia State University Atlanta, GA · Public	$18,466	$33,138	N/A
34	Pomona College Claremont, CA · Private	$9,365	$29,685	N/A

Top Earners in Public Policy Analysis

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.