College Cost, Salary and ROI Database
Every college below has a data page with its average net price, median graduate salary ten years out, acceptance rate, graduation rate, debt, and our computed Degree value-add (net return, ROI multiple, and payback). Prototype sample of 50; the full 918-college set is rolling out.
Our finding: 226 of the 918 ranked colleges (25%) do not pay back versus a high-school career within ten years; the median college's degree adds -$28,192 over a decade.
| College | Net price/yr | Salary (10y) | 10-yr value add | Value rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences Albany, NY | $29,882 | $131,426 | $702,232 | #5 |
| Babson College Wellesley, MA | $40,514 | $123,938 | $590,324 | #8 |
| Bentley University Waltham, MA | $37,930 | $120,959 | $565,847 | #9 |
| Boston College Chestnut Hill, MA | $41,704 | $103,937 | $386,554 | #21 |
| Bowdoin College Brunswick, ME | $14,398 | $82,735 | $284,258 | #46 |
| California Institute of Technology Pasadena, CA | $16,075 | $128,566 | $754,360 | #3 |
| California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo San Luis Obispo, CA | $16,665 | $90,768 | $355,520 | #29 |
| California State University Maritime Academy Vallejo, CA | $20,555 | $94,784 | $373,655 | #25 |
| Claremont McKenna College Claremont, CA | $28,849 | $104,736 | $451,464 | #12 |
| Clarkson University Potsdam, NY | $30,305 | $89,696 | $282,740 | #47 |
| Colorado School of Mines Golden, CO | $28,690 | $97,335 | $368,590 | #27 |
| Columbia University in the City of New York New York, NY | $21,590 | $102,491 | $450,050 | #13 |
| Cornell University Ithaca, NY | $28,690 | $104,043 | $444,670 | #14 |
| Dartmouth College Hanover, NH | $29,519 | $97,434 | $371,764 | #26 |
| George Washington University Washington, DC | $36,586 | $90,873 | $274,937 | #50 |
| Georgetown University Washington, DC | $40,815 | $103,494 | $389,180 | #20 |
| Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus Atlanta, GA | $12,116 | $102,772 | $490,584 | #10 |
| Harvard University Cambridge, MA | $19,066 | $101,817 | $460,906 | #11 |
| Harvey Mudd College Claremont, CA | $35,924 | $138,687 | $751,174 | #4 |
| Jewish Theological Seminary of America New York, NY | $43,195 | $92,751 | $287,730 | #45 |
| Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, MD | $18,809 | $87,555 | $323,064 | #33 |
| Kettering University Flint, MI | $34,660 | $94,823 | $315,590 | #35 |
| Maine Maritime Academy Castine, ME | $23,414 | $89,964 | $311,984 | #36 |
| Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, MA | $20,111 | $143,372 | $871,508 | #1 |
| MCPHS University Boston, MA | $39,545 | $125,557 | $605,390 | #6 |
| New Jersey Institute of Technology Newark, NJ | $16,504 | $84,276 | $288,744 | #44 |
| Northeastern University Boston, MA | $30,915 | $92,538 | $310,470 | #37 |
| Northeastern University Oakland Oakland, CA | $25,181 | $92,538 | $333,406 | #32 |
| Northwestern University Evanston, IL | $29,167 | $89,363 | $294,962 | #41 |
| Princeton University Princeton, NJ | $6,128 | $110,066 | $598,828 | #7 |
| Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Troy, NY | $36,228 | $102,051 | $384,848 | #22 |
| Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology Terre Haute, IN | $42,513 | $101,253 | $350,478 | #30 |
| Santa Clara University Santa Clara, CA | $50,062 | $109,183 | $405,420 | #18 |
| Stevens Institute of Technology Hoboken, NJ | $41,346 | $108,772 | $428,336 | #16 |
| SUNY Maritime College Throggs Neck, NY | $22,367 | $95,951 | $379,792 | #23 |
| The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art New York, NY | $13,269 | $83,847 | $303,394 | #39 |
| Trinity College Hartford, CT | $34,832 | $90,779 | $278,462 | #49 |
| University of California-Berkeley Berkeley, CA | $13,481 | $92,446 | $390,536 | #19 |
| University of California-Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA | $12,548 | $82,511 | $293,918 | #42 |
| University of California-San Diego La Jolla, CA | $12,470 | $84,943 | $317,050 | #34 |
| University of Chicago Chicago, IL | $14,860 | $91,885 | $377,410 | #24 |
| University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy in St. Louis Saint Louis, MO | $31,817 | $137,047 | $758,447 | #2 |
| University of Maryland-College Park College Park, MD | $15,678 | $82,860 | $279,888 | #48 |
| University of Michigan-Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, MI | $13,138 | $83,648 | $297,428 | #40 |
| University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, IN | $26,780 | $99,980 | $406,680 | #17 |
| University of Southern California Los Angeles, CA | $32,740 | $92,498 | $309,020 | #38 |
| Washington University in St Louis St. Louis, MO | $21,786 | $86,182 | $290,176 | #43 |
| Williams College Williamstown, MA | $17,716 | $88,665 | $336,025 | #31 |
| Worcester Polytechnic Institute Worcester, MA | $43,071 | $103,470 | $368,416 | #28 |
| Yale University New Haven, CT | $23,777 | $100,533 | $430,247 | #15 |
Methodology. Degree value-add = (median earnings 10 years after entry minus the $46,700 high-school-only baseline) × 10 years, minus total cost (average net price × 4 + median debt). It is the net return of the degree over a high-school career and can be negative. ROI multiple = 10-year premium ÷ cost. Payback = cost ÷ annual premium. Ranked among the 918 four-year colleges in this snapshot that report both earnings and cost. Source: U.S. Dept of Education, College Scorecard (2026-05), public domain. Free to cite under CC-BY 4.0.