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 $395,780 (10 Yr. ROI).
Leaders: top 3
Rice University
10 Yr. ROI
$395,780
The University of Texas at Austin
10 Yr. ROI
$276,252
Chamberlain University-Texas
10 Yr. ROI
$274,870
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 | $395,780 | Grad 95.3% · Net $11,164 |
| 2 | The University of Texas at Austin | TX | Public | 42,855 | $276,252 | Grad 89.2% · Net $18,554 |
| 3 | Chamberlain University-Texas | TX | Private for-profit | 2,270 | $274,870 | Grad 40.0% · Net $39,545 |
| 4 | The University of Texas Permian Basin | TX | Public | 3,911 | $267,828 | Grad 40.8% · Net $5,070 |
| 5 | The University of Texas at Dallas | TX | Public | 21,751 | $267,558 | Grad 79.2% · Net $15,271 |
| 6 | The University of Texas at Arlington | TX | Public | 32,294 | $261,868 | Grad 50.8% · Net $17,040 |
| 7 | University of Houston | TX | Public | 38,380 | $260,472 | Grad 65.7% · Net $11,439 |
| 8 | Texas A&M University-Central Texas | TX | Public | 1,750 | $255,874 | Grad 33.3% · Net $4,107 |
| 9 | Texas A&M University-College Station | TX | Public | 59,615 | $253,528 | Grad 84.5% · Net $21,527 |
| 10 | West Coast University-Texas | TX | Private for-profit | 2,673 | $248,253 | Grad 0.0% · Net $52,439 |
| 11 | Texas A & M International University | TX | Public | 6,667 | $234,442 | Grad 48.8% · Net $336 |
| 12 | University of Houston-Downtown | TX | Public | 12,555 | $231,630 | Grad 30.5% · Net $9,828 |
| 13 | University of Houston-Clear Lake | TX | Public | 6,078 | $231,212 | Grad 45.5% · Net $11,852 |
| 14 | The University of Texas at San Antonio | TX | Public | 30,580 | $230,970 | Grad 51.6% · Net $9,872 |
| 15 | Trinity University | TX | Private nonprofit | 2,505 | $226,545 | Grad 82.1% · Net $22,962 |
| 16 | Lamar University | TX | Public | 8,150 | $224,433 | Grad 39.4% · Net $7,984 |
| 17 | Texas Woman's University | TX | Public | 8,767 | $222,108 | Grad 48.9% · Net $11,060 |
| 18 | University of North Texas at Dallas | TX | Public | 2,878 | $220,366 | Grad 38.7% · Net $12,111 |
| 19 | Southern Methodist University | TX | Private nonprofit | 7,277 | $218,334 | Grad 82.7% · Net $39,816 |
| 20 | Texas A&M University-Victoria | TX | Public | 2,513 | $218,198 | Grad 21.7% · Net $8,115 |
| 21 | University of St Thomas | TX | Private nonprofit | 3,220 | $217,946 | Grad 67.3% · Net $15,446 |
| 22 | The University of Texas at Tyler | TX | Public | 7,440 | $216,306 | Grad 47.1% · Net $13,476 |
| 23 | The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley | TX | Public | 28,666 | $215,494 | Grad 54.7% · Net $4,858 |
| 24 | Midwestern State University | TX | Public | 4,087 | $212,790 | Grad 41.9% · Net $11,793 |
| 25 | Texas Tech University | TX | Public | 32,394 | $212,010 | Grad 69.9% · Net $19,890 |
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; 82 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.