Best Value / By Major

Best Value Colleges for Research and Experimental Psychology

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

50

Schools Ranked

$30,157

Avg. Earnings

<1 yr

Best Payback

6,883

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	$57,318	<1 yr
2	Amherst College Amherst, MA · Private	$7,793	$46,087	2.8 yrs
3	Columbia University in the City of New York New York, NY · Private	$8,106	$42,682	4.2 yrs
4	Northwestern University Evanston, IL · Private	$5,849	$39,369	5.4 yrs
5	University of Chicago Chicago, IL · Private	$8,375	$39,015	8.3 yrs
6	Tufts University Medford, MA · Private	$19,827	$43,798	9 yrs
7	Trinity Washington University Washington, DC · Private	$14,331	$37,980	19.2 yrs
8	Northeastern University Boston, MA · Private	$18,389	$38,018	24.4 yrs
9	Boston University Boston, MA · Private	$18,458	$38,018	24.5 yrs
10	Mount St. Mary's University Emmitsburg, MD · Private	$25,752	$37,748	37.5 yrs
11	Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus Atlanta, GA · Public	$15,415	$31,839	N/A
12	University of Connecticut Storrs, CT · Public	$20,344	$20,349	N/A
13	University of Connecticut-Waterbury Campus Waterbury, CT · Public	$10,112	$20,349	N/A
14	University of Connecticut-Avery Point Groton, CT · Public	$9,414	$20,349	N/A
15	University of Connecticut-Stamford Stamford, CT · Public	$15,152	$20,349	N/A
16	University of Connecticut-Hartford Campus Hartford, CT · Public	$10,515	$20,349	N/A
17	University of Michigan-Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, MI · Public	$10,481	$30,035	N/A
18	University of California-Santa Barbara Santa Barbara, CA · Public	$14,583	$30,899	N/A
19	University of Rochester Rochester, NY · Private	$23,108	$32,925	N/A
20	University of Delaware Newark, DE · Public	$17,260	$29,064	N/A
21	Princeton University Princeton, NJ · Private	$5,542	$33,993	N/A
22	University of California-San Diego La Jolla, CA · Public	$14,310	$15,817	N/A
23	University of California-Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA · Public	$12,644	$24,921	N/A
24	Rutgers University-Camden Camden, NJ · Public	$15,952	$31,314	N/A
25	Rutgers University-New Brunswick New Brunswick, NJ · Public	$20,927	$31,314	N/A
26	Rutgers University-Newark Newark, NJ · Public	$18,648	$31,314	N/A
27	University of California-Davis Davis, CA · Public	$14,193	$33,157	N/A
28	Florida Atlantic University Boca Raton, FL · Public	$12,323	$25,658	N/A
29	Eastern Washington University Cheney, WA · Public	$12,224	$25,856	N/A
30	Park University Parkville, MO · Private	$14,769	$32,658	N/A
31	Georgia College & State University Milledgeville, GA · Public	$19,656	$29,685	N/A
32	University of California-Irvine Irvine, CA · Public	$13,275	$30,024	N/A
33	Utica University Utica, NY · Private	$22,122	$30,984	N/A
34	Purdue University-Main Campus West Lafayette, IN · Public	$8,450	$27,343	N/A
35	Canisius University Buffalo, NY · Private	$17,680	$26,353	N/A
36	Smith College Northampton, MA · Private	$16,427	$18,566	N/A
37	University of South Carolina-Columbia Columbia, SC · Public	$20,325	$26,421	N/A
38	The University of Texas at Dallas Richardson, TX · Public	$14,583	$32,332	N/A
39	University of Minnesota-Twin Cities Minneapolis, MN · Public	$12,911	$33,859	N/A
40	Northwest Missouri State University Maryville, MO · Public	$12,127	$28,598	N/A
41	Metropolitan State University of Denver Denver, CO · Public	$14,679	$33,119	N/A
42	Savannah State University Savannah, GA · Public	$12,528	$28,381	N/A
43	Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus University Park, PA · Public	$27,137	$29,374	N/A
44	Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Abington Abington, PA · Public	$20,421	$29,374	N/A
45	Pennsylvania State University-World Campus University Park, PA · Public	$19,223	$29,374	N/A
46	University of North Georgia Dahlonega, GA · Public	$11,005	$28,236	N/A
47	California State University-San Bernardino San Bernardino, CA · Public	$9,854	$26,739	N/A
48	Murray State University Murray, KY · Public	$11,244	$25,194	N/A
49	Lesley University Cambridge, MA · Private	$32,725	$30,771	N/A
50	University of Colorado Denver/Anschutz Medical Campus Denver, CO · Public	$15,406	$30,119	N/A

Top Earners in Research and Experimental Psychology

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.