Best Value Colleges for Science, Technology and Society
Schools ranked by payback period — how quickly you recoup your investment through higher earnings.
9
Schools Ranked
$52,496
Avg. Earnings
<1 yr
Best Payback
527
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 | Major Earnings | Payback |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stanford University Stanford, CA · Private | $80,779 | <1 yr |
| 2 | Georgetown University Washington, DC · Private | $64,913 | 1.7 yrs |
| 3 | Texas Tech University Lubbock, TX · Public | $67,420 | 1.9 yrs |
| 4 | Eastern Michigan University Ypsilanti, MI · Public | $58,673 | 2.5 yrs |
| 5 | North Carolina State University at Raleigh Raleigh, NC · Public | $52,107 | 3.4 yrs |
| 6 | James Madison University Harrisonburg, VA · Public | $48,139 | 5.9 yrs |
| 7 | Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus Atlanta, GA · Public | $41,565 | 9.4 yrs |
| 8 | Farmingdale State College Farmingdale, NY · Public | $37,363 | 18.5 yrs |
| 9 | Beloit College Beloit, WI · Private | $21,508 | N/A |
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.