Top colleges in Pennsylvania by 10-year ROI
Executive Summary
Bachelor’s-predominant institutions located in Pennsylvania with at least 200 students, sorted by the same 10-year ROI estimate used nationally. Carnegie Mellon University leads this list at $381,661 (10 Yr. ROI).
Leaders: top 3
Carnegie Mellon University
10 Yr. ROI
$381,661
University of Pennsylvania
10 Yr. ROI
$359,630
Lehigh University
10 Yr. ROI
$302,398
Top 25 Top colleges in Pennsylvania by 10-year ROI
| Rank | Institution | State | Control | Enrollment | 10 Yr. ROI | Also see |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Carnegie Mellon University | PA | Private nonprofit | 7,304 | $381,661 | Grad 94.1% · Net $31,944 |
| 2 | University of Pennsylvania | PA | Private nonprofit | 10,650 | $359,630 | Grad 96.5% · Net $28,699 |
| 3 | Lehigh University | PA | Private nonprofit | 5,898 | $302,398 | Grad 87.9% · Net $36,931 |
| 4 | Lafayette College | PA | Private nonprofit | 2,757 | $254,775 | Grad 87.6% · Net $34,433 |
| 5 | Villanova University | PA | Private nonprofit | 6,938 | $248,360 | Grad 91.9% · Net $43,756 |
| 6 | Holy Family University | PA | Private nonprofit | 2,464 | $235,033 | Grad 60.9% · Net $13,143 |
| 7 | Saint Joseph's University - Philadelphia | PA | Private nonprofit | 4,948 | $234,800 | Grad 78.8% · Net $29,689 |
| 8 | Swarthmore College | PA | Private nonprofit | 1,613 | $234,737 | Grad 92.3% · Net $23,149 |
| 9 | Bucknell University | PA | Private nonprofit | 3,876 | $232,124 | Grad 86.3% · Net $40,766 |
| 10 | University of Pittsburgh-Bradford | PA | Public | 995 | $227,444 | Grad 47.6% · Net $15,350 |
| 11 | Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Fayette- Eberly | PA | Public | 402 | $226,342 | Grad 38.6% · Net $14,596 |
| 12 | Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Greater Allegheny | PA | Public | 349 | $221,718 | Grad 19.0% · Net $15,521 |
| 13 | Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Wilkes-Barre | PA | Public | 313 | $217,082 | Grad 22.7% · Net $16,448 |
| 14 | University of Pittsburgh-Greensburg | PA | Public | 1,305 | $214,468 | Grad 39.7% · Net $17,945 |
| 15 | University of Pittsburgh-Johnstown | PA | Public | 1,808 | $213,184 | Grad 55.8% · Net $18,202 |
| 16 | Immaculata University | PA | Private nonprofit | 1,320 | $212,526 | Grad 71.0% · Net $24,258 |
| 17 | Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Beaver | PA | Public | 482 | $212,232 | Grad 21.7% · Net $17,418 |
| 18 | Pennsylvania State University-Penn State DuBois | PA | Public | 349 | $212,182 | Grad 33.8% · Net $17,428 |
| 19 | Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Hazleton | PA | Public | 501 | $211,338 | Grad 26.2% · Net $17,597 |
| 20 | Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Scranton | PA | Public | 793 | $209,772 | Grad 39.3% · Net $17,910 |
| 21 | Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Abington | PA | Public | 2,877 | $208,968 | Grad 19.8% · Net $18,071 |
| 22 | Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Shenango | PA | Public | 256 | $208,848 | Grad 41.9% · Net $18,095 |
| 23 | Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Lehigh Valley | PA | Public | 859 | $208,222 | Grad 17.8% · Net $18,220 |
| 24 | Haverford College | PA | Private nonprofit | 1,430 | $208,166 | Grad 89.6% · Net $25,314 |
| 25 | Pennsylvania State University-Penn State New Kensington | PA | Public | 416 | $207,798 | Grad 27.6% · Net $18,305 |
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; 110 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.