Best Value / By Major

Best Value Colleges for Wildlife and Wildlands Science and Management

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

37

Schools Ranked

$27,464

Avg. Earnings

10.5 yrs

Best Payback

1,636

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	Stephen F Austin State University Nacogdoches, TX · Public	$13,192	$40,017	10.5 yrs
2	Valley City State University Valley City, ND · Public	$11,105	$38,289	13.5 yrs
3	Michigan Technological University Houghton, MI · Public	$11,794	$35,060	786.3 yrs
4	Auburn University Auburn, AL · Public	$23,468	$28,366	N/A
5	South Dakota State University Brookings, SD · Public	$18,826	$33,423	N/A
6	Paul Smiths College of Arts and Science Paul Smiths, NY · Private	$20,778	$25,774	N/A
7	Michigan State University East Lansing, MI · Public	$20,557	$25,194	N/A
8	The University of Tennessee-Knoxville Knoxville, TN · Public	$22,476	$32,213	N/A
9	Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Blacksburg, VA · Public	$18,372	$21,850	N/A
10	University of New Hampshire-Main Campus Durham, NH · Public	$20,896	$24,035	N/A
11	Northwest Missouri State University Maryville, MO · Public	$12,127	$28,381	N/A
12	California State Polytechnic University-Humboldt Arcata, CA · Public	$16,716	$21,166	N/A
13	University of Rhode Island Kingston, RI · Public	$18,131	$23,693	N/A
14	University of Maine Orono, ME · Public	$14,886	$25,658	N/A
15	Mississippi State University Mississippi State, MS · Public	$18,449	$29,141	N/A
16	Tennessee Technological University Cookeville, TN · Public	$17,588	$32,213	N/A
17	West Virginia University Morgantown, WV · Public	$13,077	$28,236	N/A
18	University of Wisconsin-Madison Madison, WI · Public	$10,364	$23,456	N/A
19	Utah State University Logan, UT · Public	$13,553	$29,685	N/A
20	Arkansas Tech University Russellville, AR · Public	$12,727	$29,322	N/A
21	University of Georgia Athens, GA · Public	$15,037	$21,280	N/A
22	New Mexico State University-Main Campus Las Cruces, NM · Public	$11,116	$27,890	N/A
23	The University of Montana Missoula, MT · Public	$15,281	$25,194	N/A
24	University of Idaho Moscow, ID · Public	$13,998	$27,343	N/A
25	University of Delaware Newark, DE · Public	$17,260	$25,194	N/A
26	University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Stevens Point, WI · Public	$13,560	$26,739	N/A
27	Otterbein University Westerville, OH · Private	$21,572	$23,456	N/A
28	University of Florida Gainesville, FL · Public	$8,394	$22,846	N/A
29	Eastern Kentucky University Richmond, KY · Public	$14,287	$25,658	N/A
30	Unity Environmental University New Gloucester, ME · Private	$24,829	$24,499	N/A
31	Delaware Valley University Doylestown, PA · Private	$26,766	$21,417	N/A
32	Montana State University Bozeman, MT · Public	$19,942	$33,993	N/A
33	College of the Ozarks Point Lookout, MO · Private	$7,796	$29,685	N/A
34	Tarleton State University Stephenville, TX · Public	$21,117	$28,598	N/A
35	Brigham Young University-Idaho Rexburg, ID · Private	$5,422	$26,353	N/A
36	Washington State University Pullman, WA · Public	$14,233	$25,658	N/A
37	University of Alaska Fairbanks Fairbanks, AK · Public	$11,587	$25,194	N/A

Top Earners in Wildlife and Wildlands Science and Management

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.