Top colleges in Arkansas by 10-year ROI
Executive Summary
Bachelor’s-predominant institutions located in Arkansas with at least 200 students, sorted by the same 10-year ROI estimate used nationally. University of Arkansas leads this list at $179,436 (10 Yr. ROI).
Leaders: top 3
University of Arkansas
10 Yr. ROI
$179,436
University of Arkansas Grantham
10 Yr. ROI
$160,557
Central Baptist College
10 Yr. ROI
$149,970
Top 18 Top colleges in Arkansas by 10-year ROI
| Rank | Institution | State | Control | Enrollment | 10 Yr. ROI | Also see |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | University of Arkansas | AR | Public | 28,677 | $179,436 | Grad 70.5% · Net $18,209 |
| 2 | University of Arkansas Grantham | AR | Public | 2,833 | $160,557 | Grad 43.0% · Net $8,370 |
| 3 | Central Baptist College | AR | Private nonprofit | 484 | $149,970 | Grad 34.1% · Net $12,287 |
| 4 | John Brown University | AR | Private nonprofit | 1,471 | $147,008 | Grad 71.8% · Net $20,397 |
| 5 | Arkansas State University | AR | Public | 9,110 | $141,722 | Grad 55.4% · Net $12,366 |
| 6 | Harding University | AR | Private nonprofit | 3,382 | $131,956 | Grad 68.8% · Net $22,130 |
| 7 | Southern Arkansas University Main Campus | AR | Public | 2,708 | $129,722 | Grad 48.8% · Net $14,027 |
| 8 | University of Arkansas at Little Rock | AR | Public | 4,949 | $127,290 | Grad 41.6% · Net $17,248 |
| 9 | University of Central Arkansas | AR | Public | 7,762 | $126,209 | Grad 53.5% · Net $16,511 |
| 10 | Hendrix College | AR | Private nonprofit | 1,100 | $122,590 | Grad 72.4% · Net $24,149 |
| 11 | Ouachita Baptist University | AR | Private nonprofit | 1,602 | $122,058 | Grad 61.4% · Net $22,409 |
| 12 | University of the Ozarks | AR | Private nonprofit | 767 | $117,772 | Grad 51.5% · Net $17,360 |
| 13 | Williams Baptist University | AR | Private nonprofit | 478 | $113,758 | Grad 25.6% · Net $15,745 |
| 14 | Lyon College | AR | Private nonprofit | 648 | $110,178 | Grad 46.8% · Net $19,616 |
| 15 | University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff | AR | Public | 1,807 | $104,464 | Grad 40.4% · Net $12,653 |
| 16 | Philander Smith University | AR | Private nonprofit | 751 | $88,050 | Grad 30.4% · Net $14,224 |
| 17 | Henderson State University | AR | Public | 1,456 | $79,800 | Grad 37.3% · Net $23,405 |
| 18 | Arkansas Baptist College | AR | Private nonprofit | 342 | $76,744 | Grad 7.4% · Net $10,627 |
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; all 18 qualifying campuses are shown.
- 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.