College ranking

Top colleges in IA by 10-year ROI

College Scorecard + IPEDS Last updated: May 2026

Executive Summary

Bachelor’s-predominant institutions located in IA with at least 200 students, sorted by the same 10-year ROI estimate used nationally. Iowa State University leads this list at $200,986 (10 Yr. ROI).

Leaders: top 3

Iowa State University

10 Yr. ROI $200,986

IA · Public

Grinnell College

10 Yr. ROI $196,635

IA · Private nonprofit

Drake University

10 Yr. ROI $185,864

IA · Private nonprofit

Top 25 Top colleges in IA by 10-year ROI

Rank	Institution	State	Control	Enrollment	10 Yr. ROI	Also see
1	Iowa State University	IA	Public	25,367	$200,986	Grad 75.3% · Net $18,589
2	Grinnell College	IA	Private nonprofit	1,729	$196,635	Grad 88.1% · Net $17,648
3	Drake University	IA	Private nonprofit	2,543	$185,864	Grad 74.0% · Net $29,127
4	University of Iowa	IA	Public	22,264	$184,174	Grad 74.6% · Net $22,531
5	Mount Mercy University	IA	Private nonprofit	1,107	$178,381	Grad 57.7% · Net $20,168
6	University of Northern Iowa	IA	Public	7,529	$175,050	Grad 67.9% · Net $15,901
7	Coe College	IA	Private nonprofit	1,164	$165,390	Grad 65.9% · Net $18,745
8	Loras College	IA	Private nonprofit	1,083	$161,787	Grad 67.6% · Net $20,716
9	Saint Ambrose University	IA	Private nonprofit	1,916	$158,784	Grad 61.0% · Net $24,691
10	Simpson College	IA	Private nonprofit	1,227	$155,254	Grad 63.3% · Net $21,936
11	Waldorf University	IA	Private nonprofit	1,827	$153,717	Grad 21.1% · Net $19,693
12	Luther College	IA	Private nonprofit	1,379	$153,016	Grad 71.1% · Net $23,097
13	Mercy College of Health Sciences	IA	Private nonprofit	867	$152,232	Grad 65.5% · Net $26,924
14	Upper Iowa University	IA	Private nonprofit	1,994	$149,923	Grad 33.9% · Net $20,942
15	Grand View University	IA	Private nonprofit	1,486	$144,079	Grad 54.0% · Net $21,774
16	Central College	IA	Private nonprofit	1,070	$140,391	Grad 66.2% · Net $23,377
17	Clarke University	IA	Private nonprofit	742	$140,196	Grad 56.1% · Net $24,479
18	Briar Cliff University	IA	Private nonprofit	624	$137,430	Grad 47.5% · Net $23,907
19	Buena Vista University	IA	Private nonprofit	1,366	$137,414	Grad 61.7% · Net $18,846
20	Graceland University-Lamoni	IA	Private nonprofit	798	$130,090	Grad 41.9% · Net $18,504
21	University of Dubuque	IA	Private nonprofit	1,440	$129,541	Grad 40.1% · Net $23,386
22	Dordt University	IA	Private nonprofit	1,597	$128,264	Grad 70.1% · Net $25,807
23	Cornell College	IA	Private nonprofit	1,086	$120,654	Grad 61.8% · Net $23,634
24	Northwestern College	IA	Private nonprofit	1,175	$116,490	Grad 66.0% · Net $25,907
25	William Penn University	IA	Private nonprofit	1,301	$110,834	Grad 32.6% · Net $22,601

Method notes

Underlying institution file: EDsmart Data processed College Scorecard extract merged to IPEDS 2023 directory for HBCU and Carnegie fields.
ROI column matches the processed college_roi_rankings series in this site build; see College Scorecard ROI methodology.
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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