College ranking

Overall colleges by 10-year ROI

College Scorecard + IPEDS Last updated: May 2026

Executive Summary

Bachelor’s-predominant four-year institutions ranked by EDsmart Data’s 10-year ROI estimate from the same College Scorecard fields as our ROI methodology note. This is one transparent outcome-weighted view—not a claim about “best college” holistically. California Institute of Technology leads this list at $754,420 (10 Yr. ROI).

Leaders: top 3

California Institute of Technology

10 Yr. ROI $754,420

CA · Private nonprofit

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

10 Yr. ROI $660,960

MA · Private nonprofit

Franklin W Olin College of Engineering

10 Yr. ROI $554,274

MA · Private nonprofit

Top 100 Overall colleges by 10-year ROI

Rank	Institution	State	Control	Enrollment	10 Yr. ROI	Also see
1	California Institute of Technology	CA	Private nonprofit	987	$754,420	Grad 89.8% · Net $8,509
2	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	MA	Private nonprofit	4,535	$660,960	Grad 95.7% · Net $14,815
3	Franklin W Olin College of Engineering	MA	Private nonprofit	377	$554,274	Grad 96.4% · Net $17,057
4	Stanford University	CA	Private nonprofit	7,554	$541,500	Grad 91.6% · Net $12,307
5	Princeton University	NJ	Private nonprofit	5,709	$527,702	Grad 97.4% · Net $7,815
6	Harvey Mudd College	CA	Private nonprofit	921	$514,302	Grad 93.3% · Net $39,347
7	United States Merchant Marine Academy	NY	Public	962	$497,792	Grad 78.0% · Net $1,516
8	Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus	GA	Public	18,785	$469,585	Grad 93.7% · Net $12,028
9	Yale University	CT	Private nonprofit	6,758	$464,556	Grad 96.3% · Net $11,340
10	Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences	NY	Private nonprofit	481	$454,995	Grad 28.6% · Net $28,425
11	Harvard University	MA	Private nonprofit	7,601	$446,810	Grad 97.1% · Net $19,148
12	Columbia University in the City of New York	NY	Private nonprofit	8,973	$437,014	Grad 95.2% · Net $15,370
13	Babson College	MA	Private nonprofit	2,728	$428,684	Grad 91.5% · Net $34,096
14	University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy in St. Louis	MO	Private nonprofit	337	$428,142	Grad 55.6% · Net $28,540
15	Claremont McKenna College	CA	Private nonprofit	1,388	$427,256	Grad 89.9% · Net $26,039
16	Carnegie Mellon University	PA	Private nonprofit	7,304	$422,914	Grad 94.3% · Net $35,780
17	Cal Poly Maritime Academy	CA	Public	804	$408,474	Grad 58.4% · Net $17,793
18	University of Pennsylvania	PA	Private nonprofit	10,650	$403,484	Grad 96.9% · Net $29,577
19	Duke University	NC	Private nonprofit	6,442	$402,414	Grad 96.1% · Net $23,706
20	University of Notre Dame	IN	Private nonprofit	8,818	$396,285	Grad 95.4% · Net $25,339
21	Rice University	TX	Private nonprofit	4,776	$395,780	Grad 95.3% · Net $11,164
22	Johns Hopkins University	MD	Private nonprofit	5,693	$392,748	Grad 93.4% · Net $18,431
23	Dartmouth College	NH	Private nonprofit	4,541	$392,670	Grad 95.3% · Net $26,707
24	Lehigh University	PA	Private nonprofit	5,898	$392,176	Grad 85.2% · Net $25,272
25	Florida Polytechnic University	FL	Public	1,689	$389,934	Grad 57.5% · Net $11,278
26	University of Chicago	IL	Private nonprofit	7,569	$386,894	Grad 95.0% · Net $16,776
27	University of California-Berkeley	CA	Public	33,068	$381,926	Grad 93.7% · Net $14,538
28	Williams College	MA	Private nonprofit	2,076	$380,954	Grad 95.2% · Net $15,157
29	Vanderbilt University	TN	Private nonprofit	7,208	$380,296	Grad 92.6% · Net $15,497
30	CUNY Bernard M Baruch College	NY	Public	16,154	$379,036	Grad 69.7% · Net $657
31	Massachusetts Maritime Academy	MA	Public	1,395	$378,992	Grad 73.5% · Net $23,759
32	Maine Maritime Academy	ME	Public	942	$377,299	Grad 58.3% · Net $21,078
33	SUNY Maritime College	NY	Public	1,285	$369,080	Grad 53.8% · Net $22,888
34	Washington University in St Louis	MO	Private nonprofit	7,857	$366,083	Grad 92.8% · Net $13,360
35	University of Michigan-Ann Arbor	MI	Public	34,177	$362,560	Grad 93.2% · Net $14,362
36	Emory University	GA	Private nonprofit	7,298	$361,081	Grad 91.0% · Net $16,754
37	Cornell University	NY	Private nonprofit	15,995	$360,186	Grad 94.5% · Net $33,934
38	Bentley University	MA	Private nonprofit	4,474	$356,676	Grad 87.9% · Net $38,969
39	Loma Linda University	CA	Private nonprofit	909	$353,614	Grad — · Net $25,018
40	Rabbinical Seminary of America	NY	Private nonprofit	397	$352,382	Grad 45.4% · Net $7,309
41	Stevens Institute of Technology	NJ	Private nonprofit	4,222	$348,902	Grad 88.7% · Net $37,396
42	University of Virginia-Main Campus	VA	Public	17,597	$348,010	Grad 94.4% · Net $18,056
43	Washington and Lee University	VA	Private nonprofit	1,881	$346,632	Grad 95.9% · Net $25,279
44	California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo	CA	Public	21,996	$342,856	Grad 86.6% · Net $18,832
45	CUNY Graduate School and University Center	NY	Public	3,254	$341,612	Grad — · Net $4,766
46	University of California-San Diego	CA	Public	34,948	$341,416	Grad 86.0% · Net $14,794
47	University of Maryland-College Park	MD	Public	30,760	$340,403	Grad 88.4% · Net $14,296
48	Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute	NY	Private nonprofit	5,714	$337,079	Grad 80.3% · Net $32,758
49	Georgetown University	DC	Private nonprofit	7,569	$336,676	Grad 94.3% · Net $33,661
50	Ner Israel Rabbinical College	MD	Private nonprofit	280	$335,810	Grad 48.4% · Net $3,524
51	Bowdoin College	ME	Private nonprofit	1,873	$335,126	Grad 92.8% · Net $15,595
52	Capitol Technology University	MD	Private nonprofit	315	$334,423	Grad 63.5% · Net $19,881
53	Amherst College	MA	Private nonprofit	1,911	$334,122	Grad 92.5% · Net $19,536
54	Davidson College	NC	Private nonprofit	1,867	$332,754	Grad 90.1% · Net $15,060
55	University of Florida-Online	FL	Public	4,627	$331,758	Grad 82.6% · Net $4,336
56	West Coast University-Anaheim-Orange County	CA	Private for-profit	3,192	$329,248	Grad 25.0% · Net $36,240
57	University of Connecticut-Waterbury Campus	CT	Public	733	$328,368	Grad 51.3% · Net $8,616
58	University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign	IL	Public	36,258	$327,622	Grad 86.3% · Net $13,042
59	Brown University	RI	Private nonprofit	7,226	$327,388	Grad 95.6% · Net $26,976
60	New Jersey Institute of Technology	NJ	Public	9,019	$326,098	Grad 72.1% · Net $18,783
61	Michigan Technological University	MI	Public	5,955	$324,964	Grad 70.0% · Net $13,446
62	University of Florida	FL	Public	35,629	$323,593	Grad 92.1% · Net $5,969
63	Missouri University of Science and Technology	MO	Public	5,521	$321,851	Grad 67.0% · Net $15,772
64	West Coast University-Miami	FL	Private for-profit	961	$321,578	Grad 25.0% · Net $37,774
65	Galen College of Nursing-Louisville	KY	Private for-profit	4,801	$320,200	Grad 44.0% · Net $4,058
66	University of Washington-Tacoma Campus	WA	Public	4,185	$319,856	Grad 60.5% · Net $11,900
67	Western Governors University	UT	Private nonprofit	155,088	$319,756	Grad 50.4% · Net $12,748
68	Northeastern University	MA	Private nonprofit	17,326	$319,393	Grad 90.7% · Net $29,060
69	Colorado School of Mines	CO	Public	6,155	$318,525	Grad 82.1% · Net $32,901
70	University of Connecticut-Avery Point	CT	Public	454	$315,528	Grad 50.5% · Net $11,184
71	Wake Forest University	NC	Private nonprofit	5,485	$314,821	Grad 90.3% · Net $28,165
72	CUNY Hunter College	NY	Public	16,289	$313,405	Grad 59.0% · Net $1,051
73	CUNY City College	NY	Public	12,505	$312,808	Grad 49.6% · Net $1,557
74	Northeastern University Oakland	CA	Private nonprofit	464	$311,583	Grad — · Net $30,622
75	University of Washington-Seattle Campus	WA	Public	31,942	$311,042	Grad 85.2% · Net $13,663
76	San Jose State University	CA	Public	27,601	$310,868	Grad 67.7% · Net $14,241
77	University of Washington-Bothell Campus	WA	Public	5,457	$310,346	Grad 68.1% · Net $13,802
78	Villanova University	PA	Private nonprofit	6,938	$309,935	Grad 92.8% · Net $41,536
79	Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University-Worldwide	FL	Private nonprofit	9,139	$309,816	Grad 30.6% · Net $19,741
80	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	NC	Public	20,752	$309,720	Grad 91.1% · Net $11,305
81	Pomona College	CA	Private nonprofit	1,666	$308,188	Grad 92.1% · Net $18,978
82	Virginia Military Institute	VA	Public	1,527	$307,550	Grad 71.8% · Net $15,585
83	Kettering University	MI	Private nonprofit	1,205	$306,044	Grad 73.9% · Net $29,797
84	University of California-Los Angeles	CA	Public	33,475	$305,481	Grad 92.8% · Net $14,659
85	The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art	NY	Private nonprofit	842	$305,422	Grad 81.8% · Net $12,999
86	Boston College	MA	Private nonprofit	10,085	$305,188	Grad 89.8% · Net $38,930
87	California State University-East Bay	CA	Public	9,809	$304,298	Grad 49.0% · Net $6,858
88	Illinois Institute of Technology	IL	Private nonprofit	2,833	$304,028	Grad 71.0% · Net $22,443
89	Farmingdale State College	NY	Public	9,552	$303,172	Grad 48.5% · Net $6,146
90	University of Connecticut-Hartford Campus	CT	Public	1,525	$301,643	Grad 65.5% · Net $13,961
91	University of California-Davis	CA	Public	32,253	$300,586	Grad 85.7% · Net $14,318
92	University of Connecticut-Stamford	CT	Public	2,432	$300,318	Grad 55.4% · Net $14,226
93	Worcester Polytechnic Institute	MA	Private nonprofit	5,447	$298,804	Grad 90.0% · Net $43,885
94	CUNY Queens College	NY	Public	12,550	$298,748	Grad 53.2% · Net $1,272
95	Purdue University-Main Campus	IN	Public	44,503	$298,556	Grad 84.0% · Net $14,851
96	CUNY Lehman College	NY	Public	10,696	$298,078	Grad 48.2% · Net $541
97	Oregon Institute of Technology	OR	Public	2,892	$297,363	Grad 45.6% · Net $17,499
98	California State Polytechnic University-Pomona	CA	Public	25,042	$297,224	Grad 67.8% · Net $9,404
99	Milwaukee School of Engineering	WI	Private nonprofit	2,654	$296,882	Grad 63.3% · Net $27,027
100	CUNY John Jay College of Criminal Justice	NY	Public	11,590	$296,639	Grad 53.8% · Net $1,110

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: sorted highest first on 10 Yr. ROI; 1,608 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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