Best Value / By Major

Best Value Colleges for Social Sciences, Other

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

46

Schools Ranked

$34,865

Avg. Earnings

<1 yr

Best Payback

1,593

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	Northwestern University Evanston, IL · Private	$5,849	$69,338	<1 yr
2	Williams College Williamstown, MA · Private	$5,576	$68,219	<1 yr
3	University of California-Berkeley Berkeley, CA · Public	$13,423	$61,380	2 yrs
4	Rutgers University-New Brunswick New Brunswick, NJ · Public	$20,927	$52,107	4.9 yrs
5	Boston University Boston, MA · Private	$18,458	$45,696	6.9 yrs
6	CUNY John Jay College of Criminal Justice New York, NY · Public	$7,811	$39,153	7.5 yrs
7	New York University New York, NY · Private	$31,355	$49,436	8.7 yrs
8	Commonwealth University of Pennsylvania Bloomsburg, PA · Public	$18,004	$42,123	10.1 yrs
9	Indiana University of Pennsylvania-Main Campus Indiana, PA · Public	$22,726	$41,937	13.1 yrs
10	SUNY Old Westbury Old Westbury, NY · Public	$13,452	$38,505	15.4 yrs
11	University of Washington-Tacoma Campus Tacoma, WA · Public	$8,147	$36,560	20.9 yrs
12	University of Washington-Seattle Campus Seattle, WA · Public	$8,393	$36,560	21.5 yrs
13	University of California-Davis Davis, CA · Public	$14,193	$37,208	25.7 yrs
14	Towson University Towson, MD · Public	$17,667	$37,018	35 yrs
15	Loyola University Maryland Baltimore, MD · Private	$29,885	$38,289	36.3 yrs
16	Clark University Worcester, MA · Private	$22,006	$36,848	47.6 yrs
17	University of California-Riverside Riverside, CA · Public	$11,126	$35,864	51.5 yrs
18	Central Michigan University Mount Pleasant, MI · Public	$15,720	$36,099	57.2 yrs
19	Benedictine University Lisle, IL · Private	$26,188	$35,420	249.4 yrs
20	University of Rochester Rochester, NY · Private	$23,108	$27,048	N/A
21	University of Rhode Island Kingston, RI · Public	$18,131	$32,854	N/A
22	St Lawrence University Canton, NY · Private	$20,396	$33,459	N/A
23	Kalamazoo College Kalamazoo, MI · Private	$20,760	$31,038	N/A
24	California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo San Luis Obispo, CA · Public	$17,340	$28,236	N/A
25	Millersville University of Pennsylvania Millersville, PA · Public	$22,731	$29,685	N/A
26	Lake Forest College Lake Forest, IL · Private	$19,318	$22,087	N/A
27	University of Wisconsin-Green Bay Green Bay, WI · Public	$13,258	$28,236	N/A
28	Eastern Oregon University La Grande, OR · Public	$14,252	$33,281	N/A
29	University of Alabama at Birmingham Birmingham, AL · Public	$17,857	$21,234	N/A
30	SUNY Polytechnic Institute Utica, NY · Public	$15,239	$32,711	N/A
31	Keystone College La Plume, PA · Private	$26,212	$32,711	N/A
32	University of Southern Maine Portland, ME · Public	$12,238	$28,236	N/A
33	University of Pittsburgh-Bradford Bradford, PA · Public	$17,344	$33,993	N/A
34	University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh Campus Pittsburgh, PA · Public	$24,139	$33,993	N/A
35	The University of Tennessee-Chattanooga Chattanooga, TN · Public	$15,283	$25,194	N/A
36	Glenville State University Glenville, WV · Public	$17,268	$24,421	N/A
37	SUNY at Purchase College Purchase, NY · Public	$18,347	$22,192	N/A
38	Lafayette College Easton, PA · Private	$13,393	$29,685	N/A
39	Randolph-Macon College Ashland, VA · Private	$22,621	$29,685	N/A
40	Knox College Galesburg, IL · Private	$17,200	$26,739	N/A
41	Carleton College Northfield, MN · Private	$15,991	$26,353	N/A
42	University of West Florida Pensacola, FL · Public	$7,301	$25,194	N/A
43	The College of Idaho Caldwell, ID · Private	$19,767	$24,035	N/A
44	Colby-Sawyer College New London, NH · Private	$22,584	$21,964	N/A
45	University of Massachusetts-Amherst Amherst, MA · Public	$16,667	$16,663	N/A
46	Russell Sage College Troy, NY · Private	$24,877	$35,060	N/A

Top Earners in Social Sciences, Other

See schools ranked by earnings alone, without considering cost.

Best Value Rankings

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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.