
Never has it been more important to establish honest and transparent value assessments for institutions of higher education. Unprecedented tuition increases have made higher education unaffordable for many, leading students to question whether earning a degree is worth the cost.
A new college ratings system
We have analyzed 2,203 4-year colleges and universities using data from 2 Department of Education programs – the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and College Scorecard.
Many ranking systems focus on assigning value to different schools based on a myriad of non-economic factors – student to teacher ratios, incoming student average test scores, endowment size, and peer reviews to name a few. Our ranking system is different because it is focused entirely on median economic output, or which schools and programs offer students a better chance of higher economic success.
Our findings have led to the conclusion that, for most degree programs available on the market, the answer is yes – the value of higher education is indeed worth the investment.

The Good
For just about half of all surveyed schools (approximately 1,219), median earnings after graduation allow students to recoup – or pay back – their educational investment in less than 5 years through improved earnings.
How do we calculate return on educational investment?
- We take median student earnings 10 years after the first year of studies.
- We deduct the median net cost of the degree (after aid) from these earnings.
- We deduct the earnings that the student likely would have had with just a high school diploma.
The Bad
Students from 589 surveyed schools, however, took at least 10 years to recoup their educational investment.
The Ugly
The majority of those 589 schools, 25% of the total schools surveyed, provide negative value to students, meaning that their students would likely have been financially better off not going to college in the first place.
How do we calculate our economic score?
We derive an economic score used to rank schools by combining the above payback model with comparative earning rates, or how much more or less students from each school earn against the average.
A full 50% of our top 20 schools are large public universities and city colleges. Three of those admit over 50% of applicants, and none accept fewer than 15%.
Private colleges and liberal arts schools, Hispanic-Serving Institutions, need-blind and test-optional colleges, HBCUs, and Ivy League institutions – our top schools represent a true cross section of the American higher education landscape and lay to waste the notion that substantial economic success is only possible with an elite education.
» Read: How do we calculate ranking scores?
Choosing a college
Find below some of the most important categories of institutions of higher education. Each category ranks the representative schools using our economic score.
The best colleges by state
Choosing the best college in your state or which out-of-state college to attend can be a fraught process for both students and parents. Location is key, but so are the long-term payoffs of your degree. We use official government data (College Scorecard and IPEDS) to provide prospective students and their parents with actionable guidance on which colleges in each state provide economic value and which do not.
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Alabama
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Alaska
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Arizona
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Arkansas
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California
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Colorado
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Connecticut
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D.C.
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Delaware
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Florida
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Georgia
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Hawaii
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Idaho
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Illinois
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Indiana
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Iowa
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Kansas
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Kentucky
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Louisiana
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Maine
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Maryland
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Massachusetts
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Michigan
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Minnesota
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Mississippi
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Missouri
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Montana
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Nebraska
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Nevada
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New Hampshire
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New Jersey
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New Mexico
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New York
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North Carolina
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North Dakota
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Ohio
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Oklahoma
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Oregon
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Pennsylvania
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Rhode Island
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South Carolina
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South Dakota
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Tennessee
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Texas
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Utah
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Vermont
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Virginia
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Washington
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West Virginia
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Wisconsin
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Wyoming
Program and degree rankings
Economic outcomes may vary greatly within each school depending on choice of major. We compare 2000+ schools in dozens of different program and major categories and document which programs offer the best return on educational investment and earning potential to students.
Business
- Best colleges for business administration
- Best colleges for finance
- Best colleges for marketing
- Best colleges for human resources
- Best colleges for accounting
Education
- Best colleges for education majors
- Best early childhood programs
- Best elementary education programs
- Best secondary education programs
- Best special education programs
Engineering
- Best undergraduate engineering programs
- Best colleges for chemical engineering
- Best colleges for civil engineering
- Best colleges for computer engineering
- Best colleges for electrical engineering
- Best colleges for environmental engineering
- Best colleges for industrial engineering
- Best colleges for mechanical engineering
Social sciences
- Best colleges for communications
- Best colleges for criminal justice
- Best colleges for economics
- Best colleges for English majors
- Best colleges for history majors
- Best colleges for political science
- Best colleges for social work
- Best colleges for sociology
Additional rankings
College advice – picking colleges, and what comes after
How to choose a college is just one piece of the puzzle. The college application process comes first, with its own set of challenges. Once you accept an offer and start studying, then picking a major, balancing school and life, considering a study abroad program, and finding the right extracurriculars can all become overwhelming. See below a selection of our blog pieces with advice on all these topics and more.