Best Value Colleges for Systems Science and Theory
Schools ranked by payback period — how quickly you recoup your investment through higher earnings.
6
Schools Ranked
$46,094
Avg. Earnings
1.7 yrs
Best Payback
244
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 | Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, PA · Private | $84,393 | 1.7 yrs |
| 2 | James Madison University Harrisonburg, VA · Public | $60,623 | 3 yrs |
| 3 | Pennsylvania Western University California, PA · Public | $50,856 | 4.5 yrs |
| 4 | La Salle University Philadelphia, PA · Private | $33,993 | N/A |
| 5 | University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Champaign, IL · Public | $25,194 | N/A |
| 6 | Marshall University Huntington, WV · Public | $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.