See Which Schools Have the Highest ROI in Every State

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The average student loan debt is now $39,400, and yet Americans still like to believe that going to college is an investment in the future. It brings lifelong friendships, challenging coursework and hopefully a good job at the end. But has anyone ever thought to conduct a rigorous ROI analysis, considering the average tuition costs, student debt and earnings potential for graduates?

We found the numbers for our map from Payscale.com, which calculated a few different metrics for every major college or university in each state across the country. They took the average total cost of tuition (the red part of our visual), the average student debt (the puple part), the typical length of time to graduation (usually 4 years), and the graduation rate. They then determined the 20-year ROI for going to school by comparing two different populations: people who skip college and start a career right after high school, and people who go to college and wait to start a career. In other words, think about a high school graduate with 24 years of experience compared to a college graduate with only 20. What is the net difference, if any, in pay? That’s the blue part of our visual.

Here is a comprehensive list of the best value schools in every state:

State	College	20 Year Net ROI ($)	Total 4 Year Cost	Average Loan Amount ($)
Alabama	University of Alabama in Huntsville	518,000	96,200	25,000
Alaska	University of Alaska Fairbanks	527,000	70,500	24,300
Arizona	Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University-Prescott	529,000	192,000	51,100
Arkansas	University of Arkansas	374,000	93,100	28,700
California	Harvey Mudd College	978,000	272,000	25,500
Colorado	Colorado School of Mines	909,000	126,000	26,700
Connecticut	United States Coast Guard Academy	714,000	0	N/A
Delaware	University of Delaware	488,000	106,000	35,700
Florida	Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University-Daytona Beach	549,000	194,000	48,400
Georgia	Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus	856,000	101,000	33,500
Hawaii	Brigham Young University-Hawaii	263,000	66,200	18,500
Idaho	Brigham Young University-Idaho	468,000	48,200	17,700
Illinois	University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign	585,000	118,000	27,600
Indiana	Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology	751,000	239,000	45,800
Iowa	Iowa State University	435,000	77,200	27,600
Kansas	Ottawa University-Ottawa	438,000	156,000	33,100
Kentucky	Thomas More College	362,000	157,000	28,900
Louisiana	Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College	422,000	102,000	26,900
Maine	Maine Maritime Academy	718,000	103,000	70,200
Maryland	United States Naval Academy	1,004,000	0	N/A
Massachusetts	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	1,015,000	249,000	30,200
Michigan	Kettering University	766,000	215,000	44,200
Minnesota	University of Minnesota-Twin Cities	449,000	104,000	30,600
Mississippi	Mississippi State University	293,000	90,800	26,900
Missouri	Missouri University of Science and Technology	753,000	87,300	27,000
Montana	Montana Tech of the University of Montana	634,000	77,400	21,200
Nebraska	Nebraska Methodist College of Nursing & Allied Health	363,000	111,000	32,500
Nevada	University of Nevada-Reno	363,000	91,500	24,400
New Hampshire	Dartmouth College	707,000	265,000	24,700
New Jersey	Stevens Institute of Technology	832,000	250,000	26,700
New Mexico	New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology	692,000	79,100	19,400
New York	United States Merchant Marine Academy	1,094,000	34,900	20,000
North Carolina	Duke University	641,000	262,000	24,700
North Dakota	North Dakota State University-Main Campus	413,000	80,400	35,700
Ohio	Case Western Reserve University	568,000	242,000	32,200
Oklahoma	University of Oklahoma-Norman Campus	424,000	99,900	31,300
Oregon	Oregon Institute of Technology	572,000	90,000	25,600
Pennsylvania	University of Pennsylvania	739,000	262,000	28,600
Rhode Island	Brown University	616,000	257,000	28,700
South Carolina	Clemson University	461,000	114,000	33,300
South Dakota	South Dakota School of Mines and Technology	635,000	93,500	29,700
Tennessee	Vanderbilt University	496,000	252,000	31,600
Texas	Rice University	650,000	229,000	29,500
Utah	Brigham Young University-Provo	595,000	71,100	20,000
Vermont	Middlebury College	358,000	250,000	25,400
Virginia	Virginia Military Institute	680,000	111,000	34,400
Washington	University of Washington-Bothell Campus	609,000	109,000	23,300
Washington, D.C.	Georgetown University	619,000	263,000	26,100
West Virginia	West Virginia University Institute of Technology	493,000	74,700	25,000
Wisconsin	Milwaukee School of Engineering	611,000	193,000	31,000
Wyoming	University of Wyoming	360,000	75,600	28,000

There are several high-level trends in our visualization. First off, no matter where you live, it clearly pays to go to college. Every single state has a large blue bar in it. The worst ROI for getting a degree is in Hawaii, but even their graduates will have earned $263,000 more than their less-educated counterparts after 20 years of working. The average ROI for all 50 schools (plus Washington DC) is an eye-popping $595,000, and the average loan amount is just under $29,000. That means that, on average, going to a high-value school gives you roughly 20x return on your money. Try getting that in the stock market.

Our map also lays out a nice visual of value schools across the U.S. The best value can be found in the Northeast, which is represented by the large blue bars in several states. There are several schools with $700k+ returns. Things look relatively modest in the South, with no state topping $700k. California meanwhile anchors the West Coast with the best value in the region, where Harvey Mudd College generates just shy of $1M in ROI for graduates.

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Taking a closer look at the visualization reveals another interesting trend. Some of the schools are very well known, like MIT in Massachusetts and many of the state schools across the Midwest. But if you’re honest, how many of the top ten have you previously heard of? Clearly there are several schools with the word “technology” in the name, indicating that getting a science, engineering or IT degree carries some serious ROI. Many of these schools might not be well known in pop culture, but we bet hiring managers compete for the attention of these graduates.

But what if you are nervous about taking out student loans to finance your college career? After all, a lot of people start college but don’t finish. That can lead to the worst of both worlds: student debt but no degree (or higher earning potential) to show for it. The graduation rates are relatively high for all these schools, topping 80 and even 90+%. But if you still want to hedge your bets, consider joining the armed services through the Naval Academy ($0 in debt at graduation, but an ROI of $1,004,000). And if joining the military doesn’t appeal to you, consider instead a low-cost, low-debt school on our list, like BUY-Idaho. Graduates typically only have $17,700 in average debt, which comes out to only about $200/month in repayments over 10 years. If that still seems like a lot, remember, you’re going to make $468,000 more over the next two decades!

Data: Table 1.1

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