Now Available: 2014 Payscale College ROI Report

A huge part of the college decision process depends on the return investment students will gain after graduating. How exactly would you measure the value of a college education? We recommend using Payscale, a handy, free to access database that gathers data from hundreds of colleges and universities based on their total cost and alumni earnings.  For your convenience, we have included the top 100 schools based on their ROI in this article. Feel free to browse http://www.payscale.com/college-roi/ for the complete list.

Rank	School Name	2013 Cost (?)	20 Year Net ROI (?)	Annual ROI (?)	Grad Rate
1	Harvey Mudd College	$229,500	$980,900	8.8%	88%
2	California Institute of Technology (Caltech)	$220,400	$837,600	8.3%	92%
3	Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)	$223,400	$831,100	8.2%	93%
4	Stanford University	$236,300	$789,500	7.8%	95%
5	Colorado School of Mines (In-State)	$114,200	$783,400	11.0%	67%
6	Georgia Institute of Technology (In-State)	$92,250	$755,600	11.9%	79%
7	Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (RHIT)	$217,400	$736,200	7.8%	76%
8	Polytechnic Institute of New York University (NYU-Poly)	$223,900	$724,500	7.7%	62%
9	Stevens Institute of Technology	$250,900	$722,400	7.2%	78%
10	Colorado School of Mines (Out-Of-State)	$178,500	$719,000	8.6%	67%
11	Babson College	$226,100	$716,700	7.6%	90%
12	Massachusetts Maritime Academy (In-State)	$96,560	$702,100	11.3%	61%
13	Princeton University	$217,300	$690,800	7.6%	96%
14	Carnegie Mellon University (CMU)	$236,200	$678,500	7.2%	87%
15	Manhattan College	$178,300	$675,600	8.3%	75%
16	Georgia Institute of Technology (Out-Of-State)	$178,500	$669,300	8.3%	79%
17	Dartmouth College	$233,600	$666,000	7.1%	96%
18	Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI)	$220,700	$664,900	7.4%	84%
19	South Dakota School of Mines & Technology (In-State)	$90,330	$664,400	11.4%	55%
20	Missouri University of Science and Technology (S&T) (In-State)	$98,170	$661,000	10.9%	65%
21	South Dakota School of Mines & Technology(Out-Of-State)	$98,700	$656,000	10.9%	55%
22	University of California – Berkeley (In-State)	$133,900	$654,400	9.4%	91%
23	Harvard University	$225,700	$650,100	7.2%	97%
24	Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT)	$207,300	$642,200	7.5%	68%
25	Massachusetts Maritime Academy (Out-Of-State)	$156,900	$641,800	8.7%	61%
26	University of Pennsylvania	$230,800	$641,100	7.0%	96%
27	Santa Clara University	$224,000	$635,400	7.1%	86%
28	Cooper Union for The Advancement of Science and Art	$232,500	$633,500	7.0%	81%
29	Rice University	$200,200	$633,400	7.6%	92%
30	Brown University	$228,100	$633,000	7.0%	95%
31	Williams College	$226,500	$623,500	7.0%	96%
32	Columbia University	$236,500	$614,300	6.8%	95%
33	California Polytechnic State University (CalPoly) – San Luis Obispo (In-State)	$103,600	$611,700	10.3%	72%
34	Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI)	$237,900	$607,100	6.7%	84%
35	Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU) – Prescott, AZ	$192,900	$606,200	7.5%	55%
36	Lafayette College	$220,600	$605,500	7.0%	91%
37	Missouri University of Science and Technology (S&T) (Out-Of-State)	$155,800	$603,300	8.4%	65%
38	Touro College – New York, NY	$109,800	$592,000	9.9%	27%
39	Duke University	$230,300	$591,500	6.7%	95%
40	Bucknell University	$225,800	$589,500	6.8%	90%
41	Kettering University	$227,500	$589,200	6.8%	56%
42	New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) (In-State)	$137,700	$588,500	8.8%	54%
43	New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (New Mexico Tech) (In-State)	$76,410	$588,400	11.6%	47%
44	Texas A&M University – Main Campus (In-State)	$91,040	$566,700	10.6%	80%
45	Saint Mary’s College of California	$223,200	$562,400	6.7%	62%
46	Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech)(In-State)	$97,710	$560,900	10.2%	83%
47	Cornell University – Ithaca, NY	$227,600	$560,400	6.6%	93%
48	Yale University	$230,100	$559,600	6.5%	96%
49 (tie)	California Polytechnic State University (CalPoly) – San Luis Obispo (Out-Of-State)	$156,000	$559,300	8.1%	72%
49 (tie)	Montana Tech of The University of Montana(In-State)	$81,990	$559,300	11.0%	48%
51	Washington and Lee University	$216,800	$558,900	6.8%	90%
52	University of Notre Dame	$221,200	$558,200	6.7%	95%
53	University of California – Berkeley (Out-Of-State)	$231,800	$556,600	6.5%	91%
54 (tie)	Johns Hopkins University	$229,100	$555,000	6.5%	92%
54 (tie)	Michigan Technological University (In-State)	$112,200	$555,000	9.5%	66%
56	University of Virginia (UVA) – Main Campus (In-State)	$94,300	$550,700	10.3%	93%
57	University of California – San Diego (UCSD) (In-State)	$122,100	$549,700	9.1%	86%
58	Colgate University	$223,600	$543,200	6.5%	90%
59	University of Massachusetts (UMass) – Lowell Campus (In-State)	$103,800	$542,700	9.8%	54%
60	New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (New Mexico Tech) (Out-Of-State)	$122,600	$542,300	9.0%	47%
61	University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) (In-State)	$113,200	$541,600	9.3%	84%
62	New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) (Out-Of-State)	$189,400	$536,800	7.1%	54%
63	Milwaukee School of Engineering	$192,900	$536,000	7.0%	56%
64	Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU) – Daytona Beach, FL	$195,700	$535,700	7.0%	58%
65	Brigham Young University (BYU)	$80,170	$534,500	10.9%	77%
66	University of Michigan – Ann Arbor (In-State)	$103,200	$529,500	9.7%	91%
67	Wake Forest University	$223,000	$529,400	6.4%	87%
68	Case Western Reserve University	$221,600	$528,100	6.5%	78%
69	Lehigh University	$219,200	$526,900	6.5%	88%
70	Tufts University	$226,300	$521,500	6.3%	92%
71	Purdue University – Main Campus (In-State)	$98,290	$519,300	9.8%	69%
72	Bentley University	$213,200	$514,200	6.5%	84%
73	Washington University in St. Louis	$234,600	$513,500	6.1%	94%
74	California State Polytechnic University – Pomona (In-State)	$97,070	$511,100	9.8%	51%
75	The College of William and Mary (In-State)	$98,400	$509,300	9.7%	90%
76	Vanderbilt University	$232,600	$509,100	6.1%	92%
77	Clarkson University – Potsdam, NY	$215,100	$508,600	6.4%	70%
78	Montana Tech of The University of Montana(Out-Of-State)	$134,500	$506,800	8.3%	48%
79	Amherst College	$228,400	$505,900	6.2%	95%
80	University of Maryland – College Park (In-State)	$95,630	$501,300	9.8%	82%
81	Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech)(Out-Of-State)	$157,800	$500,800	7.6%	83%
82	Texas A&M University – Main Campus (Out-Of-State)	$157,800	$499,900	7.6%	80%
83	Loyola University – Baltimore, MD	$217,500	$498,500	6.3%	84%
84	George Mason University (In-State)	$95,730	$497,300	9.7%	66%
85	University of Texas (UT) – Austin (In-State)	$106,100	$497,100	9.3%	79%
86	Michigan Technological University (Out-Of-State)	$171,600	$495,500	7.2%	66%
87	Iona College	$186,900	$495,300	6.9%	65%
88	Prairie View A & M University (In-State)	$87,080	$494,900	10.1%	36%
89	SUNY – Binghamton University (In-State)	$85,090	$493,300	10.2%	79%
90	Saint Martin’s University	$169,400	$493,100	7.2%	54%
91	Lawrence Technological University	$183,900	$492,700	6.9%	52%
92	Boston College	$224,600	$492,300	6.1%	92%
93	Florida Institute of Technology (Florida Tech)	$214,400	$492,000	6.3%	55%
94	James Madison University (JMU) (In-State)	$87,370	$490,900	10.1%	80%
95	University of California – Irvine (UCI) (In-State)	$119,300	$488,900	8.7%	86%
96	Bryant University	$198,700	$486,300	6.6%	80%
97	University of Massachusetts (UMass) – Lowell Campus (Out-Of-State)	$160,400	$486,200	7.4%	54%
98	University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) (Out-Of-State)	$172,600	$482,200	7.1%	84%
99	University of Alaska – Fairbanks Campus (In-State)	$78,200	$479,300	10.5%	31%
100	San Jose State University (SJSU) (In-State)	$113,700	$477,700	8.8%	47%