College ranking

Best colleges for computer science (by ROI)

College Scorecard + IPEDS Last updated: May 2026

Executive Summary

Schools whose Scorecard program list includes a CIP4 beginning with 11 (computer and information sciences), bachelor’s-predominant, ranked by 10-year ROI. California Institute of Technology leads this list at $595,878 (10 Yr. ROI).

Leaders: top 3

California Institute of Technology

10 Yr. ROI $595,878

CA · Private nonprofit

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

10 Yr. ROI $582,508

MA · Private nonprofit

Stanford University

10 Yr. ROI $491,118

CA · Private nonprofit

Top 100 Best colleges for computer science (by ROI)

Rank	Institution	State	Control	Enrollment	10 Yr. ROI	Also see
1	California Institute of Technology	CA	Private nonprofit	987	$595,878	Grad 94.4% · Net $16,075
2	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	MA	Private nonprofit	4,535	$582,508	Grad 96.4% · Net $20,111
3	Stanford University	CA	Private nonprofit	7,554	$491,118	Grad 91.9% · Net $13,807
4	Princeton University	NJ	Private nonprofit	5,709	$490,486	Grad 97.6% · Net $6,128
5	Harvey Mudd College	CA	Private nonprofit	921	$490,267	Grad 91.9% · Net $35,924
6	University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy in St. Louis	MO	Private nonprofit	337	$482,012	Grad 61.7% · Net $31,817
7	Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus	GA	Public	18,785	$417,020	Grad 94.0% · Net $12,116
8	Harvard University	MA	Private nonprofit	7,601	$408,944	Grad 97.6% · Net $19,066
9	Carnegie Mellon University	PA	Private nonprofit	7,304	$381,661	Grad 94.1% · Net $31,944
10	Columbia University in the City of New York	NY	Private nonprofit	8,973	$375,459	Grad 96.1% · Net $21,590
11	University of Pennsylvania	PA	Private nonprofit	10,650	$359,630	Grad 96.5% · Net $28,699
12	University of Chicago	IL	Private nonprofit	7,569	$359,160	Grad 95.9% · Net $14,860
13	Claremont McKenna College	CA	Private nonprofit	1,388	$356,148	Grad 91.4% · Net $28,849
14	Johns Hopkins University	MD	Private nonprofit	5,693	$355,394	Grad 93.8% · Net $18,809
15	University of California-Berkeley	CA	Public	33,068	$353,372	Grad 92.8% · Net $13,481
16	Rice University	TX	Private nonprofit	4,776	$344,734	Grad 94.6% · Net $13,370
17	Yale University	CT	Private nonprofit	6,758	$344,204	Grad 95.7% · Net $23,777
18	Cornell University	NY	Private nonprofit	15,995	$338,556	Grad 95.4% · Net $28,690
19	Vanderbilt University	TN	Private nonprofit	7,208	$338,065	Grad 93.5% · Net $15,846
20	University of Notre Dame	IN	Private nonprofit	8,818	$335,073	Grad 95.2% · Net $26,780
21	CUNY Bernard M Baruch College	NY	Public	16,154	$332,190	Grad 72.1% · Net $3,033
22	Bentley University	MA	Private nonprofit	4,474	$327,521	Grad 86.8% · Net $37,930
23	California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo	CA	Public	21,996	$327,034	Grad 86.4% · Net $16,665
24	University of Michigan-Ann Arbor	MI	Public	34,177	$326,971	Grad 93.2% · Net $13,138
25	University of California-San Diego	CA	Public	34,948	$319,354	Grad 86.1% · Net $12,470
26	Duke University	NC	Private nonprofit	6,442	$319,092	Grad 96.8% · Net $29,612
27	Dartmouth College	NH	Private nonprofit	4,541	$318,178	Grad 95.5% · Net $29,519
28	Washington and Lee University	VA	Private nonprofit	1,881	$317,628	Grad 93.9% · Net $23,781
29	Williams College	MA	Private nonprofit	2,076	$310,212	Grad 93.6% · Net $17,716
30	Colorado School of Mines	CO	Public	6,155	$308,532	Grad 81.7% · Net $28,690
31	Bowdoin College	ME	Private nonprofit	1,873	$303,690	Grad 95.3% · Net $14,398
32	New Jersey Institute of Technology	NJ	Public	9,019	$303,564	Grad 72.8% · Net $16,504
33	University of Washington-Tacoma Campus	WA	Public	4,185	$303,288	Grad 63.2% · Net $10,163
34	Lehigh University	PA	Private nonprofit	5,898	$302,398	Grad 87.9% · Net $36,931
35	Michigan Technological University	MI	Public	5,955	$302,153	Grad 68.1% · Net $14,182
36	Brown University	RI	Private nonprofit	7,226	$301,423	Grad 95.7% · Net $25,184
37	Washington University in St Louis	MO	Private nonprofit	7,857	$300,146	Grad 94.3% · Net $21,786
38	University of Florida-Online	FL	Public	4,627	$298,588	Grad 84.7% · Net $4,815
39	University of Maryland-College Park	MD	Public	30,760	$298,522	Grad 88.6% · Net $15,678
40	Capitol Technology University	MD	Private nonprofit	315	$297,914	Grad 42.7% · Net $22,102
41	Missouri University of Science and Technology	MO	Public	5,521	$297,370	Grad 64.4% · Net $16,298
42	Milwaukee School of Engineering	WI	Private nonprofit	2,654	$296,739	Grad 67.1% · Net $22,453
43	Northeastern University Oakland	CA	Private nonprofit	464	$296,148	Grad — · Net $25,181
44	University of California-Los Angeles	CA	Public	33,475	$295,349	Grad 92.6% · Net $12,548
45	University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign	IL	Public	36,258	$295,067	Grad 85.1% · Net $14,355
46	Stevens Institute of Technology	NJ	Private nonprofit	4,222	$293,815	Grad 86.9% · Net $41,346
47	Illinois Institute of Technology	IL	Private nonprofit	2,833	$292,532	Grad 75.2% · Net $18,425
48	University of Washington-Bothell Campus	WA	Public	5,457	$292,508	Grad 65.3% · Net $12,319
49	University of Virginia-Main Campus	VA	Public	17,597	$291,320	Grad 95.6% · Net $21,565
50	University of Florida	FL	Public	35,629	$289,958	Grad 91.1% · Net $6,541
51	University of Connecticut-Waterbury Campus	CT	Public	733	$289,614	Grad 52.7% · Net $10,875
52	Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute	NY	Private nonprofit	5,714	$287,256	Grad 83.6% · Net $36,228
53	San Jose State University	CA	Public	27,601	$284,194	Grad 69.2% · Net $13,760
54	University of Washington-Seattle Campus	WA	Public	31,942	$283,648	Grad 85.2% · Net $14,091
55	Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University-Worldwide	FL	Private nonprofit	9,139	$283,106	Grad 20.5% · Net $18,725
56	Virginia Military Institute	VA	Public	1,527	$282,064	Grad 76.2% · Net $17,113
57	Emory University	GA	Private nonprofit	7,298	$280,290	Grad 91.1% · Net $22,585
58	Colorado State University Global	CO	Public	6,563	$278,006	Grad — · Net $16,510
59	University of California-Davis	CA	Public	32,253	$277,662	Grad 85.7% · Net $14,741
60	University of Connecticut-Avery Point	CT	Public	454	$274,954	Grad 61.6% · Net $13,807
61	California State University-East Bay	CA	Public	9,809	$273,134	Grad 47.9% · Net $9,320
62	Davidson College	NC	Private nonprofit	1,867	$272,444	Grad 91.1% · Net $17,379
63	Oregon Institute of Technology	OR	Public	2,892	$272,295	Grad 53.8% · Net $15,706
64	Northwestern University	IL	Private nonprofit	9,201	$270,450	Grad 95.1% · Net $29,167
65	Western Governors University	UT	Private nonprofit	155,088	$270,388	Grad 46.2% · Net $12,548
66	University of California-Irvine	CA	Public	30,197	$270,102	Grad 86.9% · Net $14,251
67	Worcester Polytechnic Institute	MA	Private nonprofit	5,447	$268,513	Grad 89.7% · Net $43,071
68	New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology	NM	Public	995	$268,028	Grad 57.0% · Net $9,873
69	Northeastern University	MA	Private nonprofit	17,326	$267,478	Grad 90.5% · Net $30,915
70	CUNY Hunter College	NY	Public	16,289	$266,978	Grad 56.9% · Net $2,984
71	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	NC	Public	20,752	$266,778	Grad 91.2% · Net $11,655
72	Amherst College	MA	Private nonprofit	1,911	$266,312	Grad 93.9% · Net $23,367
73	Molloy University	NY	Private nonprofit	3,162	$265,652	Grad 69.9% · Net $24,347
74	Texas A&M University-Central Texas	TX	Public	1,750	$262,564	Grad — · Net $1,300
75	University of Detroit Mercy	MI	Private nonprofit	2,438	$262,550	Grad 67.2% · Net $15,232
76	University of Connecticut-Hartford Campus	CT	Public	1,525	$261,974	Grad 65.0% · Net $16,403
77	University of Southern California	CA	Private nonprofit	20,443	$261,940	Grad 91.8% · Net $32,740
78	Colby College	ME	Private nonprofit	2,407	$260,943	Grad 88.8% · Net $17,180
79	Purdue University-Main Campus	IN	Public	44,503	$260,795	Grad 83.1% · Net $14,600
80	Farmingdale State College	NY	Public	9,552	$260,348	Grad 52.8% · Net $10,867
81	CUNY City College	NY	Public	12,505	$260,197	Grad 56.8% · Net $3,776
82	University of Connecticut-Stamford	CT	Public	2,432	$259,998	Grad 56.5% · Net $16,798
83	California State Polytechnic University-Pomona	CA	Public	25,042	$259,913	Grad 68.4% · Net $11,531
84	Kettering University	MI	Private nonprofit	1,205	$259,827	Grad 70.8% · Net $34,660
85	CUNY John Jay College of Criminal Justice	NY	Public	11,590	$257,069	Grad 55.8% · Net $3,203
86	CUNY Queens College	NY	Public	12,550	$257,028	Grad 53.2% · Net $4,195
87	CUNY Lehman College	NY	Public	10,696	$257,022	Grad 51.3% · Net $3,148
88	Clarkson University	NY	Private nonprofit	2,196	$256,028	Grad 74.9% · Net $30,305
89	Brigham Young University	UT	Private nonprofit	32,952	$255,650	Grad 81.0% · Net $15,564
90	University of Wisconsin-Madison	WI	Public	36,902	$255,566	Grad 89.5% · Net $17,354
91	Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology	IN	Private nonprofit	2,309	$255,431	Grad 78.2% · Net $42,513
92	Boston College	MA	Private nonprofit	10,085	$255,201	Grad 90.8% · Net $41,704
93	Lafayette College	PA	Private nonprofit	2,757	$254,775	Grad 87.6% · Net $34,433
94	Georgetown University	DC	Private nonprofit	7,569	$253,531	Grad 94.8% · Net $40,815
95	University of California-Santa Barbara	CA	Public	23,113	$253,290	Grad 83.0% · Net $16,109
96	Regis University	CO	Private nonprofit	2,627	$252,882	Grad 61.0% · Net $18,397
97	Binghamton University	NY	Public	14,655	$252,030	Grad 81.6% · Net $21,620
98	CUNY Brooklyn College	NY	Public	10,543	$251,864	Grad 53.9% · Net $3,103
99	George Mason University	VA	Public	27,752	$251,850	Grad 67.8% · Net $17,915
100	University of Illinois Chicago	IL	Public	22,170	$251,625	Grad 61.6% · Net $10,974

Method notes

Underlying institution file: EDsmart Data processed College Scorecard extract merged to the IPEDS 2024 directory for HBCU and Carnegie fields.
Cohort applied on this page: enrollment floor of 200 undergraduates; sorted highest first on 10 Yr. ROI; 1,312 campuses met every filter and the top 100 are published.
Ties on the ranked metric are broken by enrollment, then institution name, so ranks stay stable between rebuilds.
ROI column matches the processed college_roi_rankings series in this site build; see College Scorecard ROI methodology.
How the 10-year ROI figure is built: median earnings reported 6, 8, and 10 years after entry (years 7 and 9 linearly interpolated) are summed across years 6–10, then average annual net price × typical years enrolled (five for bachelor’s-predominant campuses) is subtracted. It is a nominal-dollar gap—not discounted to present value, and it does not subtract earnings foregone while enrolled or compare against a no-college baseline. Campuses reporting only one of the three earnings years are excluded from these tables.
School profile links use generated slugs; not every campus has a published profile page yet—use the Scorecard site as fallback.

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