Top colleges in New York by 10-year ROI
Executive Summary
Bachelor’s-predominant institutions located in New York with at least 200 students, sorted by the same 10-year ROI estimate used nationally. United States Merchant Marine Academy leads this list at $497,792 (10 Yr. ROI).
Leaders: top 3
United States Merchant Marine Academy
10 Yr. ROI
$497,792
Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences
10 Yr. ROI
$454,995
Columbia University in the City of New York
10 Yr. ROI
$437,014
Top 25 Top colleges in New York by 10-year ROI
| Rank | Institution | State | Control | Enrollment | 10 Yr. ROI | Also see |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States Merchant Marine Academy | NY | Public | 962 | $497,792 | Grad 78.0% · Net $1,516 |
| 2 | Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences | NY | Private nonprofit | 481 | $454,995 | Grad 28.6% · Net $28,425 |
| 3 | Columbia University in the City of New York | NY | Private nonprofit | 8,973 | $437,014 | Grad 95.2% · Net $15,370 |
| 4 | CUNY Bernard M Baruch College | NY | Public | 16,154 | $379,036 | Grad 69.7% · Net $657 |
| 5 | SUNY Maritime College | NY | Public | 1,285 | $369,080 | Grad 53.8% · Net $22,888 |
| 6 | Cornell University | NY | Private nonprofit | 15,995 | $360,186 | Grad 94.5% · Net $33,934 |
| 7 | Rabbinical Seminary of America | NY | Private nonprofit | 397 | $352,382 | Grad 45.4% · Net $7,309 |
| 8 | CUNY Graduate School and University Center | NY | Public | 3,254 | $341,612 | Grad — · Net $4,766 |
| 9 | Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute | NY | Private nonprofit | 5,714 | $337,079 | Grad 80.3% · Net $32,758 |
| 10 | CUNY Hunter College | NY | Public | 16,289 | $313,405 | Grad 59.0% · Net $1,051 |
| 11 | CUNY City College | NY | Public | 12,505 | $312,808 | Grad 49.6% · Net $1,557 |
| 12 | The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art | NY | Private nonprofit | 842 | $305,422 | Grad 81.8% · Net $12,999 |
| 13 | Farmingdale State College | NY | Public | 9,552 | $303,172 | Grad 48.5% · Net $6,146 |
| 14 | CUNY Queens College | NY | Public | 12,550 | $298,748 | Grad 53.2% · Net $1,272 |
| 15 | CUNY Lehman College | NY | Public | 10,696 | $298,078 | Grad 48.2% · Net $541 |
| 16 | CUNY John Jay College of Criminal Justice | NY | Public | 11,590 | $296,639 | Grad 53.8% · Net $1,110 |
| 17 | Manhattan University | NY | Private nonprofit | 2,744 | $290,291 | Grad 67.8% · Net $25,074 |
| 18 | CUNY Brooklyn College | NY | Public | 10,543 | $290,043 | Grad 53.1% · Net $950 |
| 19 | Binghamton University | NY | Public | 14,655 | $289,683 | Grad 82.0% · Net $20,907 |
| 20 | Union College | NY | Private nonprofit | 2,046 | $284,363 | Grad 80.9% · Net $28,128 |
| 21 | SUNY Polytechnic Institute | NY | Public | 1,849 | $280,638 | Grad 56.4% · Net $12,893 |
| 22 | Stony Brook University | NY | Public | 18,101 | $280,045 | Grad 77.1% · Net $18,902 |
| 23 | Colgate University | NY | Private nonprofit | 3,180 | $277,840 | Grad 88.8% · Net $29,409 |
| 24 | CUNY York College | NY | Public | 4,345 | $274,702 | Grad 27.1% · Net $1,956 |
| 25 | Molloy University | NY | Private nonprofit | 3,162 | $272,733 | Grad 68.6% · Net $26,735 |
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; 127 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.