Students consistently rate gaining lucrative employment as the most essential factor in deciding where to go to college. With that in mind, The Daily Beast wanted to find which schools offered students the best opportunity to make money in the future without shelling out too much upfront. We first limited the universe of schools to those that graduate at least 75 percent of their students within six years. Our thinking: a degree is only valuable if you get it, and schools that don’t have a good track record of graduating students aren’t offering a reliable return on a student’s investment, regardless of cost or potential future earnings. We then calculated a net price based on the percent of students that graduate within four, five and six years to create an average net price for all students that graduated within six years, which was worth a third of the final ranking. The last two-thirds of the ranking was devoted to starting and mid-career salary of graduates according to Payscale.com.
#25
Manhattan College
Riverdale, New York
6-Year Graduation Rate: 75%
Average Net Price: $25,646
Average Starting Salary: $57,500
Average Mid-Career Salary: $110,800
#24
Lehigh University
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
6-Year Graduation Rate: 88%
Average Net Price: $25,331
Average Starting Salary: $60,400
Average Mid-Career Salary: $106,300
Christa Neu/Lehigh University
#23
Dartmouth College
Hanover, New Hampshire
6-Year Graduation Rate: 96%
Average Net Price: $20,490
Average Starting Salary: $55,500
Average Mid-Career Salary: $104,700
Dartmouth College
#22
Brown University
Providence, Rhode Island
6-Year Graduation Rate: 95%
Average Net Price: $23,127
Average Starting Salary: $55,100
Average Mid-Career Salary: $114,500
Mike Cohea/Brown University
#21
Tufts University
Medford, Massachusetts
6-Year Graduation Rate: 92%
Average Net Price: $27,525
Average Starting Salary: $51,900
Average Mid-Career Salary: $123,600
B.O'Kane / Alamy
#20
Williams College
Williamstown, Massachusetts
6-Year Graduation Rate: 96%
Average Net Price: $17,365
Average Starting Salary: $50,200
Average Mid-Career Salary: $110,700
Scott Barrow/Williams College
#19
Vanderbilt University
Nashville, Tennessee
6-Year Graduation Rate: 92%
Average Net Price: $19,667
Average Starting Salary: $56,300
Average Mid-Career Salary: $103,400
Vespasian / Alamy
#18
Columbia University
New York, New York
6-Year Graduation Rate: 95%
Average Net Price: $21,274
Average Starting Salary: $59,200
Average Mid-Career Salary: $101,100
Mario Tama/Getty Images
#17
Duke University
Durham, North Carolina
6-Year Graduation Rate: 95%
Average Net Price: $24,134
Average Starting Salary: $59,500
Average Mid-Career Salary: $108,000
Lance King
#16
Cornell University
Ithaca, New York
6-Year Graduation Rate: 93%
Average Net Price: $23,684
Average Starting Salary: $58,200
Average Mid-Career Salary: $111,100
Cornell University
#15
University of Virginia
Charlottesville, Virginia
6-Year Graduation Rate: 93%
Average Net Price: $12,672
Average Starting Salary: $54,100
Average Mid-Career Salary: $99,300
Sanjay Suchak/University of Virginia
#14
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
6-Year Graduation Rate: 96%
Average Net Price: $21,821
Average Starting Salary: $59,300
Average Mid-Career Salary: $112,200
University of Pennsylvania
#13
Washington and Lee University
Lexington, Virginia
6-Year Graduation Rate: 90%
Average Net Price: $18,788
Average Starting Salary: $50,700
Average Mid-Career Salary: $124,300
Kevin Remington/Washington and Lee University
#12
Princeton University
Princeton, New Jersey
6-Year Graduation Rate: 96%
Average Net Price: $20,040
Average Starting Salary: $60,000
Average Mid-Career Salary: $113,900
Brian Wilson/Princeton University
#11
University of California-Berkeley
Berkeley, California
6-Year Graduation Rate: 91%
Average Net Price: $16,178
Average Starting Salary: $59,500
Average Mid-Career Salary: $114,200
David Schmitz/University of California-Berkeley
#10
Yale University
New Haven, Connecticut
6-Year Graduation Rate: 96%
Average Net Price: $18,479
Average Starting Salary: $58,500
Average Mid-Career Salary: $115,100
Michael Marsland/Yale University
#9
Colgate University
Hamilton, New York
6-Year Graduation Rate: 90%
Average Net Price: $19,384
Average Starting Salary: $54,000
Average Mid-Career Salary: $126,600
Andrew M. Daddio/Colgate University
#8
Rice University
Houston, Texas
6-Year Graduation Rate: 92%
Average Net Price: $19,888
Average Starting Salary: $60,000
Average Mid-Career Salary: $119,900
Tommy LaVergne/Rice University
#7
Cooper Union
New York, New York
6-Year Graduation Rate: 81%
Average Net Price: $15,374
Average Starting Salary: $61,100
Average Mid-Career Salary: $117,000
Cooper Union
#6
Harvard University
Cambridge, Massachusetts
6-Year Graduation Rate: 97%
Average Net Price: $14,445
Average Starting Salary: $57,700
Average Mid-Career Salary: $118,200
Rose Lincoln/Harvard University
#5
Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus
Atlanta, Georgia
6-Year Graduation Rate: 79%
Average Net Price: $9,116
Average Starting Salary: $61,700
Average Mid-Career Salary: $111,700
Ethan Trewhitt/Georgia Institute of Technology
#4
Stanford University
Stanford, California
6-Year Graduation Rate: 95%
Average Net Price: $19,233
Average Starting Salary: $62,900
Average Mid-Career Salary: $126,400
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
#3
Harvey Mudd College
Claremont, California
6-Year Graduation Rate: 88%
Average Net Price: $30,205
Average Starting Salary: $75,600
Average Mid-Career Salary: $133,800
Mudd College
#2
California Institute of Technology
Pasadena, California
6-Year Graduation Rate: 92%
Average Net Price: $22,645
Average Starting Salary: $74,800
Average Mid-Career Salary: $126,200
California Institute of Technology
#1
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, Massachusetts
6-Year Graduation Rate: 93%
Average Net Price: $20,629
Average Starting Salary: $70,300
Average Mid-Career Salary: $128,800
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
