BestColleges is here to help students weigh the costs and benefits of their educational options. The student body includes over 35,000 members, 25,000+ of which are undergraduates. The USAFA is located just outside of Colorado Springs, Colorado. Originally founded as Capitol Radio Engineering Institute, CTU is a private, not-for-profit university in Laurel, Maryland, right between D.C. and Baltimore. Degrees available include over 120 majors and range from architecture, gender studies, and foreign languages to engineering, physical sciences and social sciences, and legal studies. The three leading careers ― software engineer, senior software engineer, and mechanical engineer ― earn an average median salary of $96,878; however, the ROI for UC Berkeley grads is a little lower due to the $125,000 price-tag for a four-year degree (second highest among the top 10 schools on our list). Alternatively, students enrolling at MIT this year can expect to pay the hefty sticker price of $215,000 for their four-year degree. This year, the projected total cost of a bachelor's degree from Maritime College is $90,530. This extension of the larger University of Maryland in College Park emphasizes engineering, computer science, and other tech-based fields. The College Consensus rankings use PayScale College ROI Report data to rank colleges offering fully online and hybrid degree programs. Top Colleges With High Return on Investment, Best Online Colleges and Top Online Universities of 2021, Scholarships and Financial Aid for Online College Students. Depending on your financial aid situation and your post-college plans, Maritime College could offer you a much better ROI. HMC is a private, undergraduate college located in Claremont, California. … Instead, graduates gravitate toward careers as management consultants, attorneys, business and marketing executives ― all of which earn starting salaries upward of $95,000 per year. Maritime College is one of seven maritime academies in the US that grants degrees. Founded in 1876, CU Boulder is a public University in Boulder, Colorado and the flagship University of the University of Colorado system. The school offers associate degrees, bachelor’s, and doctorates to their student body, who number at just below 1,000. It’s in the museum district and quite close to the Houston Zoo. Thread College ROI Rankings Author Date within 1 day 3 days 1 week 2 weeks 1 month 2 months 6 months 1 year of Examples: Monday, today, last week, Mar 26, 3/26/04 It’s part of the SUNY system. Originally founded as a college, Georgetown University is a private institution located on a hill just North of the Potomac River in Washington, D.C. It is popular for its strength in science and engineering and often ranked as one of the top ten universities worldwide. Their student-to-faculty ratio is a bit high at 17:1, but at least you’ll never want for new things to do so close to New York City. UC Davis is one of the leading schools in the country for veterinary programs, and some of the other leading career paths for graduates include high-paying fields like engineering, law, and business administration. CalPoly annually ranks among the finest tech institutes in the country, but in terms of ROI, the school is outmatched by smaller tech institutions that charge less in annual tuition and/or award more financial aid to students. So why isn't the 30 Year Net ROI for graduates higher? The school sits at the edge of the town of West Point, overlooking the Hudson River; a location chosen for its original use as a fort. PayScale’s College ROI rankings will eventually supplant U.S. News and World Report in the critical scrutiny they receive—especially since commentators like William Bennett use them to argue that only 150 universities in the country are worth their price tag. The school's leading career paths include financial analyst, staff accountant, software engineer, and IT consultant, all of which boast median salaries in the range of roughly $60,000 to $90,000. In 2017, the University was ranked 13 in the 'Best Colleges' edition of U.S. News and World Report. For this reason (as well as the average amount of financial aid received by students), it's easy to see why GIT graduates earn such a high ROI over the course of 30 years. Their student-to-faculty ratio is 9:1 and their outcomes are some of the highest in the US. Columbia is one of the Ivy League universities, located in New York City just beside the Hudson River. Santa Clara University is a private university located in Santa Clara, California and associated with the Jesuits. Since Purdue's tuition is a little higher than most technical institutions, the ROI for graduates is also slightly lower -- but still well above average. Fittingly, at least half of the school’s 140+ majors are devoted to the sciences and education. If you pick a school while considering its return on investment (ROI), you can avoid unnecessary financial burden. The university isn’t huge, with a student body of around 11,000, nearly 7,000 of which are undergraduates, and they keep the class sizes comparatively small with an 11 to 1 student-to-faculty ratio. NCSU is a public research institution located in Raleigh, the capital of North Carolina. Community colleges and many certificate programs have the highest returns … Founded in 1885, UA is a public institution in Tucson, Arizona and it was the first university in the Arizona region. College ROI ranking system University develops first college ranking system that measures the value added by each institution to the student’s graduation and post-college financial success Research & Innovation | August 05, 2020 More than 13,000 students enjoy small class sizes with the 6:1 student-to-faculty ratio and access to bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate degrees. These factors contribute to the ROI of students who earn a degree from the Los Angeles university. For this reason (as well as higher-than-average tuition prices), the ROI is lower at Clemson than other, cheaper schools that emphasize technical disciplines. While all of these fields generally award median salaries upward of $64,000, the average starting salary for all graduates is closer to $50,000, and the median salary for grads who have been in the workforce for up to nine years is $71,267. Despite it’s lower number of graduate students, it provides master’s and doctorate degrees along with it’s bachelor’s programs. Their student-to-faculty ratio and retention rate are both solid at 15:1 and 87% respectively. Student to Faculty Ratio: 12:1. There are many factors that go into determining the average ROI from any particular school. However, with a student-to-faculty ratio of 7:1 and a variety of bachelor’s degrees to be earned, the effort you put in will be well worth what you get out of it. Unless you consider yourself to be average at every college in the land, most published college ROI rankings are not a good return on your time. Engineering careers are common among SJSU alumni, as are graduates who obtain jobs as office managers, HR professionals, senior accountants, and software developers. These are available from associate degrees to doctorates. Ideally, you want to seek out schools with a tuition rate that matches your budget, while also favoring schools that report high earnings among graduates -- in both the short term and long term. Students can earn degrees across the full spectrum from associate degrees to doctorates and even undergrad and postgrad certificates to support the skills they’ve learned. While the student-to-faculty ratio is a bit high at 18 to 1, the retention rate is solid at 83% for full-time students. We want to help you graduate with the lowest possible debt and the highest possible salary. However, the school has expanded since its first inception and now offers bachelor’s and master’s in all sorts of majors including Computer Science, Biochemistry, Industrial Management, Mathematics, International/Global Studies, Physics, and Economics. With accreditation for their engineering programs coming from ABET, they obviously still excel in training engineers for all kinds of careers. Earning a degree boosts your earning potential significantly and can help you move up the ladder in your chosen field. There degree offerings include bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorates with postgraduate certificates available as well. ), and physical sciences at the bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral levels. Our goal is to become one of the best online resources helping students navigate through the higher education process. Irvine, CA. Many graduates go on to pursue careers as ship captains, engineers, construction and building managers, and environmental safety technicians. It has a relatively small campus, covering only 22 acres despite being in Downtown Milwaukee. The school's focus is mining technology, with an emphasis on applied science and environmental resource protection. For instance, according to the data, SUNY Maritime College offers its students the highest ROI of any public school in the country. The school's expensive tuition (highest on our list of 50) keeps the already sizable 30-year ROI from being even higher. PayScale College ROI Report – Overview by Payscale. The school’s student body consists of a little over 100 undergraduates, has a student-to-faculty ratio of 9:1, and a retention rate of 100%. Their 5,000+ student body consists mostly of undergraduates who enjoy their relatively small class sizes, with a student-to-faculty ratio of 11 to 1. The school has a relatively high student-to-faculty ratio (16:1) considering its low students population of about 1,800. At The College Rankings Guru, we use ROI and powerful data analytics to match you with the perfect college for you. A school doesn’t have to be inexpensive to provide a solid ROI to its graduates. Furthermore, the majority of graduates find work in West Virginia, where the cost-of-living -- and annual earnings -- are much lower than in most other states. Furthermore, Rutgers alumni tend to earn higher median salaries; high school teachers who earn a degree there, for example, will out earn their TCNJ counterparts by more than $3,000. It is the oldest institution of higher learning in the US, having been founded in 1636. Miami University might sound like it should belong in Florida, but it’s actually a public university with a campus located in Oxford, Ohio, Northwest of Cincinnati. Founded in 1941, the Maine Maritime Academy is a 4-year, public college in Castine, Maine. They also offer several undergraduate and postgraduate certificates for those looking to expand or continue their education. They earn degrees ranging from bachelor’s to doctorates and can also earn undergraduate and postgraduate certificates from the same location. Across the whole spectrum, the school’s 10,000+ students enjoy a low student-to-faculty ratio of 6 to 1. Through these platforms, they offer nearly 60 majors and boast a retention rate of 88%. Colleges were included in the list based on their ranking among liberal arts colleges by U.S. News and World Report. Colorado (particularly the Denver area) is a major technology hub, and many students who attend UCB earn degrees in engineering, computer science, aerospace, and other fields that will enable them to secure high-paying jobs within the state. For example, the extra expense of earning a master's in education may not lead to a great return if you do not pursue a career that requires a specialization, but instead work in a role where you only need a bachelor's. But the school's leading career paths also include high school teacher, financial analyst, and other positions with median earnings that exceed the typical starting salary for graduates by less than $10,000. That's because more prestigious schools are often more expensive (possibly disproportionately expensive) and cannot offer the same return on each tuition dollar that a lower-cost school, like a technical college, might. The school has 6,800+ students, about 5,000 of which are undergraduates. In this sense, earning a formal education fulfills a practical purpose, just like other forms of training and credentialing. These majors are offered as associate, bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate degrees. Established in 1870, Stevens Institute of Technology is one of America’s oldest technological universities. Villanova University is a private, Catholic university located in Radnor Township, a large suburb of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The school offers bachelor's master’s in biological and biomedical science, business, management and marketing, computer science, engineering, health professions, mathematics and statistics, and physical sciences. It’s not required, but some graduates spend time in active service in the Armed Forces after completing a degree. The school's diverse degree selection, as well as numerous on-campus research opportunities, enable graduates to enter the workforce with plenty of skills and experience under their belts― and this readiness translates nicely into high salaries. However, the two leading career paths -- software engineering and lead software engineering -- are quite lucrative for UMBC alumni. The degrees they offer range from an associate to a doctorate with undergraduate and postgraduate degrees thrown in for good measure. For this reason, TCNJ's ROI is lower than Rutgers'. Because we are focused on value, our list is ranked from highest to lowest 30 year net return … The school offers associate, bachelor’s, master’s, and postgraduate certificates to it’s 4,000+ students. It is located in Hoboken, New Jersey, just across the Hudson River from Manhattan. Despite a relatively small student body of less than 2,500, the student-to-faculty ratio is a bit high at 15:1. Tuition at the University of Delaware is on the low side for an East Coast school and new graduates (many of whom pursue careers in engineering fields) will typically earn a starting salary of $50,300. These degrees are provided in majors such as biotechnology, information resource management, computer and information sciences, education, various engineering disciplines, nursing practice, psychology, and public administration, among many others. A reminder that this PayScale dataset only includes information related to bachelor's degree programs. Mines, as it’s called colloquially in Golden, Colorado, is a public university. However, in many roles, an advanced degree does lead to far higher long-term earnings. Founded in 1874, SUNY Maritime College is a public, 4-year college. The university is made up of 7 separate colleges covering arts and sciences, community and public affairs, engineering and applied sciences, management, nursing, and pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences, while also offering advanced degrees through their graduate school. Founded in Lexington, Virginia in 1839, the Virginia Military Institute was the first public senior military college in the US. Because of its maritime focus, the degrees you’ll be able to earn here include various kinds of engineering, business and marketing, atmospheric science, transportation, etc. The latest PayScale College ROI Report includes 1,461 higher education institutions (an increase of 39 schools from last year’s report). The school’s nearly 7,000 students earn bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorates in biological sciences, business and marketing, computer and information sciences, engineering, mathematics, physical science, psychology, social sciences, the visual and performing arts, and several interdisciplinary studies. Using data collected from the National Center for Education Statistics, PayScale, and each of the following school’s websites, we’ve developed a list of 50 bachelor’s degrees from the colleges and universities that provide in-state students with the highest ROI on their tuition. It is the oldest higher education institution in New York and the 5th oldest in the United States. Its low student-to-faculty ratio and nearly 100% degree receiving rate is just part of what makes this college and excellent choice for anyone. It is the third-oldest university of higher education in the US. Their classes are relatively small with a student-to-faculty ratio of 13:1 and their retention rate is excellent, sitting at 96%. The US Navy fully funds tuition for students who join the service after graduation in return for their education, which makes the return on investment from this university one of the best in the US. Below is our list of the top ranked 25 liberal arts colleges in the United States. It’s a public institution with campuses also located in Johnson City and Vestal, New York. As a whole, the institution has a low student-to-faculty ratio of 9 to 1 and a retention rate of 94%. Their student-to-faculty ratio sits at a solid 13:1 and their retention rate is above 80%. Harvard University is another Ivy League institution. This explains why OIT's ROI is not as high as other schools of its ilk. Far away from the New York City bustle, in Ithaca, the school does just that. A less expensive school may seem appealing, but if its graduates routinely earn low salaries the tradeoff may not be worth it. The second-oldest university in the United States is also one of the most lucrative, according to Payscale, as well as the highest-ranking institution on our list that doesn't list STEM fields as the most popular career paths. Originally founded to train mine engineers, they still have over 15 engineering majors as well as programs in biomedical sciences, business and management, computer information sciences, natural resource conservation, and public administration among others. Between that and the 100+ majors spanning bachelor’s through doctorate degrees and architecture, biomedical sciences, education, health professions, history, legal studies, psychology, and more; it’s no wonder that this school has such a stellar reputation. The university has nearly 10,000 students enrolled, 7,500 of which are undergraduates. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that the number of positions requiring a master's degree will grow by 13.2% from 2018-2028, while jobs that only require a high school diploma are projected to increase by just 2.9%. UAF places great emphasis on science and technology programs that are applicable in the field of natural resource management. Included among the researchers’ notable findings: Community college and many certificate programs have the highest ROI in the short term (10 years). Originally founded as the Carnegie Technical School, it’s gone through several shifts before arriving at its current moniker. The school is a part of the Research Triangle made up of this campus, The University of North Carolina, and Duke University. It has an engineering focus and provides programs in computer and information science, engineering, business and management, and other engineering-related fields. With their location near hundreds of acres of national park land, it’s no surprise to find that they’ve expanded that into conservation and development of natural resources. For this reason, the average UCSB grad will enjoy relatively high ROIs. As a result, many graduates go on to pursue careers as geophysicists, resource protection officers, and, most prominently, engineers. However, the high cost of tuition -- a common trend between schools in the university of California system -- prevents the ROI from being as high as it might be for students who attend cheaper institutions. The school has more than a dozen locations on six continents and its Pittsburg location offers over 100 majors at degree levels from bachelor’s to doctorate, as well as postgraduate certificates. Only 31% of the student body (roughly 2,600 individuals) receives financial aid, but the average award constitutes more than 15% of the cost of a four-year degree. However, the ROI is lower at VT because of low financial aid rewards; only 57% receive aid, and the average allotment for four years is $5,517 (roughly 6% of the cost of a degree). © 2021 University Headquarters: The Higher Education Standard. One thing to keep in mind is that many students graduate in debt no matter which school they attend; however, paying back your college debt shouldn’t be a problem if your degree gets you a good job that pays well. The school has an excellent student-to-teacher ratio of 6:1 and a grand total of 16,600 students. The ROI at University of Connecticut is relatively high (especially for students who receive financial aid), but UMass Lowell -- where the tuition is cheaper, starting salaries are higher, and alumni tend to earn more in median earnings -- still offers the best deal of any state university in New England. The school has 13 campus buildings with under 2,000 students, and a student-to-faculty ratio of 13:1. However, the campus serves it’s nearly 3,000 students well with its 30+ majors offered as bachelor’s or master’s degrees, as well as the option to earn undergraduate or postgraduate certificates in some of those same fields. The school's emphasis on STEM studies and research essentially counteracts the high annual tuition and low percentage of students who receive financial aid, and allows the average graduate to enjoy a higher ROI than those who attend most other state universities. The school's most popular career paths are concentrated in lucrative STEM fields like engineering, software development, and biotechnology. With over 100 majors available in both humanities and the sciences, it’s definitely a good option no matter what career you’re looking to enter. Their retention and graduation rates are 92% and 80% respectively. Their 6,000+ students earn bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate degrees in classrooms with a 15 to 1 students-to-faculty ratio. MSOE is a private university located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on the edge of Lake Michigan. Founded in 1865, WPI is a private institution in Worcester, Massachusetts, less than two hours from Boston. ROI(%) 32 Band C TAPMI Manipal 11.5 14.6 78.76712 23 Band C XIM Bhubaneswar 15.42 19.7 78.27411 48 Band E SIES Nerul (Mumbai) 6.91 9++ 76.77778 34 Band D IRMA Anand 10.77 14.06+ 76.60028 51 Band E LBSIM Delhi 9.2 12.09 76.09595 57 … Determining a good ROI for a college depends on a variety of factors. Students may leave toward the end of their academic career in order to have greater access to job opportunities after finishing school. This is an excellent ROI indicator. The five leading careers for NJIT graduates -- electrical engineer, software engineer, senior software developer/programmer, mechanical engineer, and senior software engineer -- average a median annual salary of roughly $80,000. Although these jobs aren't as lucrative as careers within STEM fields, median salaries are high enough to earn Baruch College grads a decent ROI on their education. Interestingly, it was the first higher learning institution in the US to call itself a university. For this reason, associate or bachelor's degrees can potentially offer a more generous ROI than higher degrees, depending on the profession.