Top colleges in Texas by 10-year ROI
Executive Summary
Bachelor’s-predominant institutions located in Texas with at least 200 students, sorted by the same 10-year ROI estimate used nationally. Rice University leads this list at $344,734 (10 Yr. ROI).
Leaders: top 3
Rice University
10 Yr. ROI
$344,734
Chamberlain University-Texas
10 Yr. ROI
$281,084
Texas A&M University-Central Texas
10 Yr. ROI
$262,564
Top 25 Top colleges in Texas by 10-year ROI
| Rank | Institution | State | Control | Enrollment | 10 Yr. ROI | Also see |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rice University | TX | Private nonprofit | 4,776 | $344,734 | Grad 94.6% · Net $13,370 |
| 2 | Chamberlain University-Texas | TX | Private for-profit | 2,270 | $281,084 | Grad 25.0% · Net $32,209 |
| 3 | Texas A&M University-Central Texas | TX | Public | 1,750 | $262,564 | Grad — · Net $1,300 |
| 4 | The University of Texas at Arlington | TX | Public | 32,294 | $242,396 | Grad 54.0% · Net $13,951 |
| 5 | The University of Texas at Austin | TX | Public | 42,855 | $241,848 | Grad 88.9% · Net $19,857 |
| 6 | West Coast University-Texas | TX | Private for-profit | 2,673 | $229,371 | Grad 31.2% · Net $53,020 |
| 7 | The University of Texas at Dallas | TX | Public | 21,751 | $225,335 | Grad 75.7% · Net $18,267 |
| 8 | Texas A&M University-College Station | TX | Public | 59,615 | $222,804 | Grad 83.9% · Net $21,315 |
| 9 | University of Houston | TX | Public | 38,380 | $218,816 | Grad 64.6% · Net $14,276 |
| 10 | Texas A&M University-Victoria | TX | Public | 2,513 | $207,834 | Grad 26.4% · Net $8,109 |
| 11 | The University of Texas at San Antonio | TX | Public | 30,580 | $206,258 | Grad 52.6% · Net $10,836 |
| 12 | Trinity University | TX | Private nonprofit | 2,505 | $205,908 | Grad 84.0% · Net $23,464 |
| 13 | Texas A&M University-San Antonio | TX | Public | 6,599 | $204,851 | Grad 40.2% · Net $11,196 |
| 14 | University of Houston-Downtown | TX | Public | 12,555 | $202,994 | Grad 33.2% · Net $10,542 |
| 15 | Texas Woman's University | TX | Public | 8,767 | $202,578 | Grad 49.1% · Net $11,963 |
| 16 | University of Houston-Clear Lake | TX | Public | 6,078 | $202,002 | Grad 51.6% · Net $15,563 |
| 17 | The University of Texas Permian Basin | TX | Public | 3,911 | $201,284 | Grad 39.7% · Net $12,723 |
| 18 | Midwestern State University | TX | Public | 4,087 | $201,278 | Grad 42.7% · Net $11,656 |
| 19 | Texas A & M International University | TX | Public | 6,667 | $197,116 | Grad 46.5% · Net $3,637 |
| 20 | The University of Texas at Tyler | TX | Public | 7,440 | $195,955 | Grad 54.1% · Net $13,323 |
| 21 | The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley | TX | Public | 28,666 | $192,905 | Grad 50.9% · Net $4,831 |
| 22 | Texas Tech University | TX | Public | 32,394 | $192,353 | Grad 68.7% · Net $19,070 |
| 23 | Lamar University | TX | Public | 8,150 | $191,226 | Grad 37.3% · Net $9,366 |
| 24 | Texas A&M University-Kingsville | TX | Public | 4,748 | $180,738 | Grad 41.9% · Net $12,090 |
| 25 | University of North Texas | TX | Public | 34,341 | $180,506 | Grad 60.7% · Net $15,649 |
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; 81 campuses met every filter and the top 25 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.