Public Colleges with the Best Return on Investment

The motto of TheBestSchools.org is Finding the best school for you. Here is how we do it:

The value of any ranking list of schools and/or degree programs depends on having a methodologically sound assessment of each school’s/program’s characteristics, especially insofar as these can be objectively measured. A college or university is a complex entity, with numerous factors to consider, and distilling these down to the place where meaningful comparisons can be made to form a defensible ranking list becomes part science and part art.

To meet this challenge — and thereby provide you with the most useful and insightful educational rankings on the Internet — TheBestSchools.org formulates our ROI rankings based on the following Categories and Factors:

Categories

Ranking factors fall into three categories, in terms of how their values are converted into points for this list:

1. Linear – This is based on a data point that is typically (but not always) a percentage value. For example, “graduation rate” of a college is a percentage value from 0-100%. If this is a ranking factor worth a maximum of 20 points, then the original data values 0 to 100% are scaled linearly down to a range of 0 to 20 points.
2. Scaled – This is typically based on a dollar return value (but not always) where a higher value is better. For example, number of undergrad applications, early-career or mid-career pay. If the ranking factor is worth a maximum of 20 points and the salary data for all schools is salary from, for example, $35K to $70K (for all colleges collectively), this data range is mapped down to a range of 0 to 20 points.
3. Inverted scaled – This is typically based on a dollar value (but not always) where lower is better. For example, student/faculty ratio, net price or tuition values. This is similar to “scaled” ranking factors, but the data range is reversed first before mapping down to the points range.

Factors

Here are the factors used to rank colleges/universities in this list, what each factor represents, and a high-level view of the ranking methodology. (Some salary information is sourced fromPayscale.com’s college salary report.)

1. Netprice – This is the average yearly cost (affordability) per student at a given college whose yearly family income is between $0 and $48,000. Points are scored on an inverted scale, with lowest price = highest points.
2. Payscale early career salary range – This is the average yearly salary (return on investment) at the early career stage (five years after) for a bachelor’s degree graduate of a given college. Points are scored on a scaled basis, with highest pay = highest points.
3. Payscale mid-career salary range – This is similar to early-career salary (return on investment), but at 10 years after graduation. Scaled rank: highest pay = highest points.
4. In-state tuition and mandatory fees – Published cost (affordability) for in-state students. Points are calculated on an inverted scale (as for Netprice): lowest cost = highest points.
5. Graduation rate – This is a relative measure of a college’s worthiness, reflected by the percentage of undergrads who graduate within a standard timeframe (as defined by NCES.ed.gov). Points are scored on a linear scale: the higher the graduation rate, the more points awarded for this ranking factor.
6. #applicants – This is a measure of popularity, which implies a given college as having a relatively higher return on investment.
7. Out-of-state tuition and mandatory fees – Published cost (affordability) for out-of-state students. Points are calculated on an inverted scale (as for netprice and in-state tuition): lowest cost = highest points.
8. %retention – This is the retention rate of full-time freshmen students, indicating overall “contentedness” with the college in their first year. Points are calculated on a linear scale, with higher percentage translating to higher points.
9. Student-teacher ratio – This loosely measures the potential personal attention that students can receive from faculty. Points are calculated on an inverted scale: smaller ratio = higher points.

Additional Notes

Payscale salary info is used for bonus points. All public institutions listed in this series appeared in Payscale.com’s college salary report. Some private (nonprofit) institutions did not appear in the report. In such cases, the median value of all salary data is calculated for each of early-career and mid-career pay. Such schools listed in the second half will be flagged as having a median salary, and receive fewer ranking points for these two factors.

Only schools that have at least five bachelor’s degree programs are listed, in order to be of interest to a broader range of readers. The more programs available, the wider the choices for students, should they decide to change majors after first year, or to decide when declaring their major.