Best Value Colleges for Systems Engineering
Schools ranked by payback period — how quickly you recoup your investment through higher earnings.
11
Schools Ranked
$70,711
Avg. Earnings
<1 yr
Best Payback
533
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 | University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA · Private | $101,964 | <1 yr |
| 2 | Washington University in St Louis St. Louis, MO · Private | $78,343 | <1 yr |
| 3 | University of Florida Gainesville, FL · Public | $74,279 | <1 yr |
| 4 | University of Virginia-Main Campus Charlottesville, VA · Public | $82,808 | 1.3 yrs |
| 5 | University of Arizona Tucson, AZ · Public | $68,047 | 1.7 yrs |
| 6 | George Mason University Fairfax, VA · Public | $74,576 | 1.9 yrs |
| 7 | George Washington University Washington, DC · Private | $74,576 | 2.1 yrs |
| 8 | University of North Carolina at Charlotte Charlotte, NC · Public | $60,173 | 2.7 yrs |
| 9 | Kennesaw State University Kennesaw, GA · Public | $61,020 | 3 yrs |
| 10 | Maine Maritime Academy Castine, ME · Public | $63,749 | 3.1 yrs |
| 11 | Texas A & M International University Laredo, TX · Public | $38,289 | 5.2 yrs |
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.