Best Value / By Major

Best Value Colleges for Social Sciences, General

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

50

Schools Ranked

$34,220

Avg. Earnings

<1 yr

Best Payback

5,452

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	$52,107	<1 yr
2	Vanderbilt University Nashville, TN · Private	$7,694	$56,544	1.4 yrs
3	University of Washington-Seattle Campus Seattle, WA · Public	$8,393	$53,358	1.8 yrs
4	The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Edinburg, TX · Public	$5,452	$42,682	2.8 yrs
5	Manhattan University Riverdale, NY · Private	$29,420	$64,493	4 yrs
6	University of Southern California Los Angeles, CA · Private	$22,826	$46,087	8.2 yrs
7	Ball State University Muncie, IN · Public	$15,158	$42,044	8.6 yrs
8	University of Wisconsin-Platteville Platteville, WI · Public	$13,699	$41,193	8.8 yrs
9	New York University New York, NY · Private	$31,355	$49,019	8.9 yrs
10	Central Washington University Ellensburg, WA · Public	$17,235	$40,580	12.4 yrs
11	Washington State University Pullman, WA · Public	$14,233	$39,301	13.2 yrs
12	University of North Texas Denton, TX · Public	$14,132	$39,153	13.6 yrs
13	University of Minnesota-Morris Morris, MN · Public	$6,691	$36,668	16 yrs
14	California State University-Sacramento Sacramento, CA · Public	$12,602	$37,748	18.3 yrs
15	Campbell University Buies Creek, NC · Private	$22,356	$39,729	18.9 yrs
16	Florida Atlantic University Boca Raton, FL · Public	$12,323	$37,568	19.2 yrs
17	University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Stevens Point, WI · Public	$13,560	$37,568	21.1 yrs
18	Upper Iowa University Fayette, IA · Private	$22,508	$39,009	22.5 yrs
19	Arizona State University Campus Immersion Tempe, AZ · Public	$15,561	$37,568	24.2 yrs
20	Michigan State University East Lansing, MI · Public	$20,557	$38,289	25 yrs
21	Caldwell University Caldwell, NJ · Private	$20,901	$38,289	25.4 yrs
22	Florida State University Tallahassee, FL · Public	$11,506	$36,423	32.3 yrs
23	Kutztown University of Pennsylvania Kutztown, PA · Public	$22,881	$37,568	35.6 yrs
24	St. Joseph's University-New York Brooklyn, NY · Private	$13,223	$35,954	55.4 yrs
25	Troy University Troy, AL · Public	$16,049	$36,041	61.7 yrs
26	Mercy University Dobbs Ferry, NY · Private	$17,281	$35,952	72.6 yrs
27	Grand Valley State University Allendale, MI · Public	$15,277	$35,487	125.5 yrs
28	University of Northern Colorado Greeley, CO · Public	$14,111	$35,330	171 yrs
29	University of California-Irvine Irvine, CA · Public	$13,275	$35,060	885 yrs
30	Whittier College Whittier, CA · Private	$24,135	$26,715	N/A
31	California State University-San Marcos San Marcos, CA · Public	$14,309	$27,397	N/A
32	Southern Oregon University Ashland, OR · Public	$11,223	$33,993	N/A
33	Touro University New York, NY · Private	$24,578	$32,925	N/A
34	University of Utah Salt Lake City, UT · Public	$13,842	$28,960	N/A
35	University of Oregon Eugene, OR · Public	$16,014	$34,704	N/A
36	California State University-Monterey Bay Seaside, CA · Public	$14,319	$34,603	N/A
37	Dominican University New York Orangeburg, NY · Private	$22,154	$32,071	N/A
38	University at Buffalo Buffalo, NY · Public	$20,841	$29,250	N/A
39	University of Nevada-Las Vegas Las Vegas, NV · Public	$11,929	$31,305	N/A
40	California State University-Stanislaus Turlock, CA · Public	$7,976	$32,925	N/A
41	University of Pittsburgh-Greensburg Greensburg, PA · Public	$15,996	$28,598	N/A
42	University of Pittsburgh-Johnstown Johnstown, PA · Public	$17,271	$28,598	N/A
43	University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh Campus Pittsburgh, PA · Public	$24,139	$28,598	N/A
44	Portland State University Portland, OR · Public	$12,964	$32,252	N/A
45	San Diego State University San Diego, CA · Public	$14,698	$24,035	N/A
46	Western Oregon University Monmouth, OR · Public	$14,525	$29,685	N/A
47	Tulane University of Louisiana New Orleans, LA · Private	$25,322	$32,569	N/A
48	Oregon State University Corvallis, OR · Public	$21,716	$27,476	N/A
49	Oregon State University-Cascades Campus Bend, OR · Public	$20,523	$27,476	N/A
50	California State University-Chico Chico, CA · Public	$16,738	$33,192	N/A

Top Earners in Social Sciences, General

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.