Best ROI: Under $20,000/year Net Price

Schools with net prices under $20,000/year that deliver strong outcomes. Proof that great value exists at every price point.

50 schools ranked

#	School	ROI	Net Price	10yr Earnings	Median Debt	Completion	Tier
1	Stanford University Stanford, CA	99	$13,807	$124,080	$12,000	91.9%	Exceptional
2	University of Chicago Chicago, IL	98	$14,860	$91,885	$15,000	95.9%	Exceptional
3	Rice University Houston, TX	98	$13,370	$89,718	$11,000	94.6%	Exceptional
4	University of California-Berkeley Berkeley, CA	97	$13,481	$92,446	$13,000	92.8%	Exceptional
5	Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus Atlanta, GA	97	$12,116	$102,772	$21,672	94.0%	Exceptional
6	Vanderbilt University Nashville, TN	97	$15,846	$91,565	$14,000	93.5%	Exceptional
7	California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo San Luis Obispo, CA	96	$16,665	$90,768	$18,500	86.4%	Exceptional
8	University of California-Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA	96	$12,548	$82,511	$14,000	92.6%	Exceptional
9	University of California-San Diego La Jolla, CA	96	$12,470	$84,943	$15,500	86.1%	Exceptional
10	Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, MD	96	$18,809	$87,555	$10,250	93.8%	Exceptional
11	Harvard University Cambridge, MA	96	$19,066	$101,817	$14,000	97.6%	Exceptional
12	Williams College Williamstown, MA	96	$17,716	$88,665	$12,761	93.6%	Exceptional
13	University of California-Davis Davis, CA	95	$14,741	$80,838	$13,000	85.7%	Exceptional
14	University of Michigan-Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, MI	95	$13,138	$83,648	$19,500	93.2%	Exceptional
15	California Institute of Technology Pasadena, CA	94	$16,075	$128,566	N/A	94.4%	Exceptional
16	University of California-Irvine Irvine, CA	94	$14,251	$80,735	$15,000	86.9%	Exceptional
17	Colby College Waterville, ME	94	$17,180	$80,490	$19,157	88.8%	Exceptional
18	University of Maryland-College Park College Park, MD	94	$15,678	$82,860	$19,000	88.6%	Exceptional
19	Princeton University Princeton, NJ	94	$6,128	$110,066	$10,320	97.6%	Exceptional
20	The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art New York, NY	94	$13,269	$83,847	$15,000	81.1%	Exceptional
21	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chapel Hill, NC	94	$11,655	$72,200	$14,000	91.2%	Exceptional
22	Brigham Young University Provo, UT	94	$15,564	$75,790	$11,069	81.0%	Exceptional
23	University of Washington-Seattle Campus Seattle, WA	94	$14,091	$78,466	$14,615	85.2%	Exceptional
24	University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Champaign, IL	93	$14,355	$81,054	$19,500	85.1%	Exceptional
25	United States Merchant Marine Academy Kings Point, NY	93	$6,174	$90,610	$8,833	82.4%	Exceptional
26	University of Florida Gainesville, FL	92	$6,541	$71,588	$15,000	91.1%	Exceptional
27	Illinois Institute of Technology Chicago, IL	92	$18,425	$82,592	$25,000	75.2%	Exceptional
28	Bowdoin College Brunswick, ME	92	$14,398	$82,735	$18,500	95.3%	Exceptional
29	New Jersey Institute of Technology Newark, NJ	92	$16,504	$84,276	$21,000	72.8%	Exceptional
30	CUNY Bernard M Baruch College New York, NY	92	$3,033	$75,971	$11,512	72.1%	Exceptional
31	San Jose State University San Jose, CA	91	$13,760	$78,988	$15,000	69.2%	Exceptional
32	William & Mary Williamsburg, VA	91	$19,096	$73,490	$18,500	89.4%	Exceptional
33	University of Wisconsin-Madison Madison, WI	91	$17,354	$73,792	$20,484	89.5%	Exceptional
34	Purdue University-Main Campus West Lafayette, IN	91	$14,600	$72,424	$19,500	83.1%	Exceptional
35	University of Washington-Bothell Campus Bothell, WA	91	$12,319	$78,466	$14,615	65.3%	Exceptional
36	University of Washington-Tacoma Campus Tacoma, WA	91	$10,163	$78,466	$14,615	63.2%	Exceptional
37	University of Florida-Online Gainesville, FL	91	$4,815	$71,588	$15,000	84.7%	Exceptional
38	University of California-Santa Barbara Santa Barbara, CA	90	$16,109	$74,915	$13,993	83.0%	Exceptional
39	Pomona College Claremont, CA	90	$19,285	$77,779	$11,782	93.2%	Exceptional
40	Missouri University of Science and Technology Rolla, MO	90	$16,298	$82,957	$23,250	64.4%	Exceptional
41	Davidson College Davidson, NC	90	$17,379	$81,400	$18,688	91.1%	Exceptional
42	The University of Texas at Austin Austin, TX	90	$19,857	$75,121	$20,500	88.9%	Exceptional
43	California State Polytechnic University-Pomona Pomona, CA	89	$11,531	$71,902	$16,000	68.4%	Strong
44	Michigan Technological University Houghton, MI	89	$14,182	$78,198	$24,990	68.1%	Strong
45	New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology Socorro, NM	89	$9,873	$76,489	$19,085	57.0%	Strong
46	California State University-Fullerton Fullerton, CA	88	$6,555	$62,951	$13,750	70.2%	Strong
47	University of Georgia Athens, GA	88	$13,936	$68,726	$18,500	89.7%	Strong
48	University of Minnesota-Twin Cities Minneapolis, MN	88	$16,778	$69,020	$19,500	85.3%	Strong
49	Virginia Military Institute Lexington, VA	88	$17,113	$77,369	$22,996	76.2%	Strong
50	Stony Brook University Stony Brook, NY	87	$18,784	$74,502	$18,228	75.6%	Strong

All Rankings Browse All Schools Compare Schools ROI Calculator

Other Rankings

Best ROI Overall Best Public Schools Best Private Schools Most Underrated Worst ROI

How We Rank

Rankings are based on our ROI score (0-100), which weights five quantifiable factors: Earnings Premium (30%), Payback Period (25%), Debt-to-Earnings (20%), Completion Rate (15%), and Loan Repayment (10%). All data comes from the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard. No subjective criteria are used.

Full methodology →

Best ROI: Under $20,000/year Net Price

Related Reading

Other Rankings

How We Rank