Best Value / By Major

Best Value Colleges for Teacher Education and Professional Development, Specific Subject Areas

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

50

Schools Ranked

$35,819

Avg. Earnings

1.4 yrs

Best Payback

20,100

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	CUNY Hunter College New York, NY · Public	$6,908	$55,286	1.4 yrs
2	CUNY Brooklyn College Brooklyn, NY · Public	$7,219	$49,019	2.1 yrs
3	McNeese State University Lake Charles, LA · Public	$11,651	$46,673	4 yrs
4	University of Washington-Seattle Campus Seattle, WA · Public	$8,393	$43,426	4 yrs
5	Southern Illinois University-Carbondale Carbondale, IL · Public	$14,499	$48,935	4.2 yrs
6	Northeastern Illinois University Chicago, IL · Public	$16,540	$50,105	4.4 yrs
7	Florida Gulf Coast University Fort Myers, FL · Public	$11,133	$44,835	4.5 yrs
8	CUNY Queens College Queens, NY · Public	$7,582	$41,565	4.6 yrs
9	Centenary University Hackettstown, NJ · Private	$19,911	$51,273	4.9 yrs
10	Saint Xavier University Chicago, IL · Private	$13,036	$45,435	5 yrs
11	University of West Florida Pensacola, FL · Public	$7,301	$40,896	5 yrs
12	Concordia University-Saint Paul Saint Paul, MN · Private	$14,980	$46,478	5.2 yrs
13	University of Florida Gainesville, FL · Public	$8,394	$41,193	5.4 yrs
14	William Paterson University of New Jersey Wayne, NJ · Public	$19,749	$49,491	5.5 yrs
15	Valley City State University Valley City, ND · Public	$11,105	$43,000	5.6 yrs
16	University of Louisville Louisville, KY · Public	$17,380	$46,869	5.9 yrs
17	The College of New Jersey Ewing, NJ · Public	$25,434	$51,844	6 yrs
18	Western Connecticut State University Danbury, CT · Public	$16,376	$45,340	6.3 yrs
19	Florida Atlantic University Boca Raton, FL · Public	$12,323	$42,682	6.4 yrs
20	Washington State University Pullman, WA · Public	$14,233	$43,798	6.5 yrs
21	Texas Lutheran University Seguin, TX · Private	$17,741	$45,500	6.8 yrs
22	Western Washington University Bellingham, WA · Public	$16,819	$44,818	6.9 yrs
23	Dickinson State University Dickinson, ND · Public	$13,283	$42,682	6.9 yrs
24	Florida State University Tallahassee, FL · Public	$11,506	$41,527	7.1 yrs
25	Purdue University-Main Campus West Lafayette, IN · Public	$8,450	$39,767	7.1 yrs
26	Towson University Towson, MD · Public	$17,667	$44,675	7.3 yrs
27	Houston Christian University Houston, TX · Private	$20,447	$46,087	7.4 yrs
28	CUNY Lehman College Bronx, NY · Public	$8,084	$39,369	7.4 yrs
29	SUNY Oneonta Oneonta, NY · Public	$18,271	$44,542	7.7 yrs
30	Mayville State University Mayville, ND · Public	$12,900	$41,725	7.7 yrs
31	University of Delaware Newark, DE · Public	$17,260	$43,798	7.8 yrs
32	Eastern Washington University Cheney, WA · Public	$12,224	$41,193	7.9 yrs
33	New York University New York, NY · Private	$31,355	$50,606	8 yrs
34	McMurry University Abilene, TX · Private	$22,881	$46,087	8.3 yrs
35	Central Washington University Ellensburg, WA · Public	$17,235	$43,080	8.5 yrs
36	Indiana University-Indianapolis Indianapolis, IN · Public	$13,306	$41,230	8.5 yrs
37	Iowa State University Ames, IA · Public	$14,641	$41,870	8.5 yrs
38	University of South Florida Tampa, FL · Public	$9,669	$39,564	8.5 yrs
39	St Olaf College Northfield, MN · Private	$15,453	$42,123	8.7 yrs
40	Pacific Lutheran University Tacoma, WA · Private	$21,062	$44,551	8.8 yrs
41	University of Maryland-College Park College Park, MD · Public	$17,360	$42,868	8.8 yrs
42	Rider University Lawrenceville, NJ · Private	$25,864	$46,589	8.9 yrs
43	Saint Edward's University Austin, TX · Private	$24,710	$46,087	8.9 yrs
44	Marist University Poughkeepsie, NY · Private	$30,498	$48,745	8.9 yrs
45	University of Hartford West Hartford, CT · Private	$27,606	$47,260	9 yrs
46	North Carolina State University at Raleigh Raleigh, NC · Public	$14,424	$41,342	9.1 yrs
47	East Texas Baptist University Marshall, TX · Private	$21,354	$44,356	9.1 yrs
48	Concordia University-Chicago River Forest, IL · Private	$15,903	$41,789	9.4 yrs
49	Boston University Boston, MA · Private	$18,458	$42,682	9.6 yrs
50	Dakota State University Madison, SD · Public	$18,429	$42,682	9.6 yrs

Top Earners in Teacher Education and Professional Development, Specific Subject Areas

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.