54 published

Findings

Original analyses built from federal college data. Rankings, outliers, and patterns across cost, earnings, majors, and careers. No opinions, just the numbers and where they lead.

For-Profit Colleges Charge the Most and Pay the Least

For-profit colleges post the highest median net price of any sector and the lowest graduate earnings. They cost more than private nonprofits and pay less than publics.
- For-profit colleges
- Net price
- Earnings
- College ROI
- College ownership
Public vs Private College, the Real Cost-and-Earnings Gap

Private four-year colleges cost 84 percent more in net price than public ones, but their graduates earn just 7 percent more. The cost gap dwarfs the payoff.
- Public vs private college
- Net price
- Earnings
- College cost
- College ROI
The 25 Best-ROI Colleges in America

The colleges where graduates earn the most for every dollar of net price are mostly community colleges and CUNY campuses, not the famous names. Here is the ranking.
- College ROI
- Net price
- Earnings
- CUNY
- Community college
The 33 Colleges That Cost Under $5,000 and Still Pay Off

Of 256 colleges where net price falls under $5,000, only 33 also send graduates above the national median earnings. Almost all of them are public.
- Net price
- Earnings
- Low-cost college
- CUNY
- Public college
The 50 Best-ROI Four-Year Colleges

Filter the ROI ranking to bachelor-granting four-year schools only and the list changes. CUNY tops it, Princeton sneaks in, and the average return is 25x.
- College ROI
- Four-year colleges
- Net price
- Earnings
- CUNY
The CUNY Effect: How New York's Public Colleges Top the ROI Charts

CUNY's 11 four-year colleges average a 15.8x return on net price, more than triple the national public average, on a net price near $4,000.
- CUNY
- College ROI
- Net price
- Public colleges
- New York colleges
The Cheapest Four-Year Colleges With Above-Average Earnings

1,421 four-year colleges beat the national earnings median. The cheapest of them charge under $3,300 net and their graduates still out-earn the typical degree.
- Net price
- Earnings
- Cheap colleges
- CUNY
- Public colleges
The Colleges That Cut the Most Off Their Sticker Price

The biggest dollar discounts in American higher education go to the richest, most selective private colleges. Princeton knocks $77,912 off its published price.
- Net price
- Sticker price
- Financial aid
- College cost
- Selective colleges
The Colleges Where Graduates Borrow the Least

At a typical four-year college, graduates leave owing about $20,846. At a small set they owe under $5,000, led by low-cost publics and one tuition-free school.
- Student debt
- Median debt
- Net price
- Berea College
- College affordability
The Real Discount, Sticker vs Net Price at American Colleges

Across 3,148 colleges the average published cost is $31,811 but the average price families pay is $17,230, a 45 percent discount that almost nobody sees on the sticker.
- Net price
- Sticker price
- Cost of attendance
- Financial aid
- College discount
Do Selective Schools Actually Graduate More Students?

Across 1,645 four-year colleges, graduation rates climb steadily with selectivity, from 54% at open-admission schools to 93% at the most exclusive. The gap is real.
- Graduation rate
- Acceptance rate
- Selectivity
- Completion
- College outcomes
Open-Admission Schools That Outearn Some Ivies

Four colleges that admit roughly 9 in 10 applicants post higher 10-year earnings than the lowest-earning Ivy. Selectivity is not destiny. Here is the list.
- Open admission
- Acceptance rate
- Earnings
- Ivy League
- College outcomes
Public Flagships vs Elite Privates: The Earnings Gap Is Real, the Value Gap Runs the Other Way

Elite private grads earn about 18 percent more than selective public flagship grads, but the privates cost 85 percent more net. Flagships win on value.
- Public flagships
- Elite private colleges
- Net price
- Earnings
- College value
Safety Schools With Better Outcomes Than the Reaches

31 colleges admit 75 percent or more of applicants yet out-earn the typical low-admit reach school. The prestige order inverts more often than families assume.
- Acceptance rate
- Earnings
- Safety schools
- Selectivity
- Outcomes
Selectivity Barely Moves Earnings, Until the Top 10%

Across 1,600 four-year colleges, the earnings gap between a selective school and an open-admission one is about $5,000. Only the most exclusive tier truly separates.
- Acceptance rate
- Earnings
- Selectivity
- Prestige
- Outcomes
The Selective Colleges Where Getting In Does Not Pay

Eight colleges admit under a quarter of applicants yet send graduates into pay below the four-year median. Most are arts conservatories and work colleges.
- Acceptance rate
- Earnings
- Selectivity
- Arts colleges
- Outcomes
What a Single-Digit Acceptance Rate Is Worth, in Dollars

The 30 colleges that admit under 10% of applicants post median earnings of $92,000, about $38,000 a year above every other four-year school. Here is the math.
- Acceptance rate
- Earnings
- Selectivity
- Ivy League
- Outcomes
Why the UCD Score Does Not Just Reward Selectivity

A school can admit nine in ten applicants and still score Strong. 122 open-admission universities clear the bar on value and affordability, not exclusivity.
- UCD Score
- Selectivity
- College value
- Affordability
- Open admission
All 38 Majors, Ranked by What Graduates Earn

The highest-earning college major out-pays the lowest by a factor of two and a half. The full ranking of all 38 fields by median graduate earnings, with job growth alongside.
- Major earnings
- Highest paying majors
- Job growth
- STEM
- Field of study
Does Engineering Tech Out-Earn Engineering? The Data Says No

A popular claim holds that the applied engineering-tech degree pays more than the theoretical one. Across every program, engineering wins by about $10,000.
- Engineering tech
- Engineering
- Program earnings
- Applied degree
- Technician careers
STEM Is Not One Thing: The Pay Gap Within STEM

Across 88 STEM programs the top one out-earns the bottom by $65,000 a year. Operations research pays $122,531; environmental design pays $57,461.
- STEM earnings
- Engineering pay
- Computer science
- Program earnings
- Major choice
The Best Major Out-Earns the Worst by 2.5 to 1

The top-paying major returns $93,843 a decade out. The bottom returns $36,949. The gap is 2.5x, and the two ends share almost nothing in common.
- Major earnings
- Engineering tech
- Library science
- Earnings gap
- Field of study
The Highest-Paying Degrees in America, by Program

At the program level, federal data ranks specific fields of study by pay. Law leads at $142,745, more than double the typical program, and engineering takes 7 of the top 15 spots.
- Program earnings
- Highest-paying degrees
- Engineering pay
- Law school earnings
- CIP programs
The Lowest-Paying Degrees, and Whether They Are Worth It

The lowest-paying college program pays a median of $28,311 four years out. Only 11 of 314 programs land below the high-school benchmark. Here is the floor.
- Lowest-paying degrees
- Program earnings
- Worth it
- Net price
- Major choice
The Majors Where Your Salary Is a Coin Flip

In a handful of fields, the top quarter of graduates out-earn the bottom quarter by more than 100,000 dollars. The same degree pays wildly differently.
- Earnings range
- Major pay
- Salary spread
- Program earnings
- Income risk
The Most Common Majors vs the Most Lucrative

The five most-awarded majors graduate 2.9 million students a year, yet only one of them cracks the top five by pay. Popularity and paychecks barely overlap.
- Most common majors
- Major earnings
- Completions
- Popular degrees
- Major pay gap
The Shrinking Majors, Where the Jobs Are Disappearing

Of 38 college major fields, only three face shrinking job demand over the decade. Precision production leads the decline at minus 7.4 percent, and it pays below average too.
- Job growth
- Shrinking majors
- BLS projections
- Precision production
- Communications technology
The Sweet Spot: Majors With High Pay and High Growth

Only 12 of 38 college majors clear both an above-median salary and above-median job growth. Two of them, math and computer science, stand alone with double-digit growth.
- Job growth
- Major earnings
- Computer science
- Mathematics
- STEM majors
10 Six-Figure Careers That Do Not Need a Bachelor's Degree

Air traffic controllers earn more than the typical bachelor's-degree career, with an associate degree. The occupations that pay six figures without four years of college.
- No bachelor degree
- High paying careers
- Associate degree
- Trades
- Median wage
Does a Master's Degree Pay Off? Barely, on Average

Group every career by the degree it requires and master's-level jobs pay a median of about $91,000, statistically tied with bachelor's-level work. The premium hides in a few fields.
- Master's degree
- Bachelor's degree
- Median wage
- Graduate school
- Career outcomes
Growing and Paying $80K Plus: The Careers That Do Both

Only 95 of 385 federal careers both pay a median above $80,000 and grow faster than the typical job. Here is the rare set that clears both bars.
- Career growth
- Median wage
- High-paying careers
- Job outlook
- Career change
Is More School Always Worth It? The Full Pay Ladder

Average pay rises with each degree level until the top two rungs, where a master's pays slightly less than a bachelor's and the ladder stops climbing.
- Entry education
- Median wage
- Degree premium
- Pay ladder
- Career earnings
The Best-Paid Careers You Can Start Out of High School

The careers that list a high school diploma as the only entry credential top out at $122,610, and just three of the 72 reach six figures. Here is the full ranking.
- High school diploma jobs
- No degree careers
- Median wage
- Trades pay
- Entry education
The Careers Where Pay Does Not Match the Degree

Across 385 careers, the credential a job requires barely predicts what it pays. The top high-school-only career out-earns 123 of 148 bachelor's-degree careers.
- Entry education
- Median wage
- Career pay
- No degree
- Bachelor's degree
The Careers With the Widest Pay Gap, p25 to p75

In some careers the bottom quarter and top quarter of earners are separated by more than $100,000. Same job title, very different pay. Here is the ranking.
- Wage gap
- Pay percentiles
- Median wage
- Career earnings
- Pay range
The Disappearing Jobs: The Steepest-Declining Careers

The 72 careers projected to shrink through 2034 are not the low-wage ones you would guess. The steepest decliner is payroll clerks, and most still pay well today.
- Job outlook
- Declining careers
- Automation
- Wages
- Career change
The Fastest-Growing Careers Through 2034

The 25 careers with the steepest projected job growth through 2034 pay a median of about $98,000, well above the all-careers average. Growth and pay mostly travel together.
- Job growth
- Career outlook
- Median wage
- Entry education
- Fastest-growing jobs
The Healthcare Pay Ladder, Rung by Rung

From a $37,000 dietetic technician to a $238,000 family physician, healthcare pay climbs with required schooling. But one rung breaks the pattern.
- Healthcare careers
- Median wage
- Entry education
- Nursing
- Physician pay
What a High-Stress Job Actually Pays Extra

High-stress careers pay about 14 percent more than moderate-stress ones, a real premium that survives even after you control for the degree required.
- Job stress
- Median wage
- Stress premium
- Career pay
- Hazard pay
College Deserts, Where the Fewest Options Serve the Most Students

Utah crowds 14,137 students into each of its colleges, four times the national norm. These are the states where college options are scarcest per student.
- College deserts
- Students per college
- College access
- State enrollment
- Utah
Mapping the Medical Schools of America

There are 170 colleges that operate a medical school, and they cluster hard. Texas leads with 14, three states hold a fifth of them, and four states have none.
- Medical schools
- Teaching hospitals
- IPEDS
- State concentration
- Public universities
Northeast vs South, the Regional Outcomes Divide

Northeast college graduates earn about $12,700 more a decade out than Southern ones, but they also pay thousands more to get there. The regional split, by the numbers.
- Regional comparison
- Earnings
- Net price
- Northeast
- South
The Best Public University in Every State

Ranked on a federal-data value score, the top public university in many states is not the famous flagship. It is a tech school, a mines school, or a cheap commuter campus.
- Public universities
- Flagship
- UCD Score
- State rankings
- College value
The Cheapest and Most Expensive States for Public College

A four-year public college costs about $8,000 a year in Florida and about $20,000 in Pennsylvania. The same kind of school, two and a half times the price, by state.
- Net price
- Public college
- State comparison
- Affordability
- Tuition
The States Producing the Highest-Earning Graduates

Rank every state by the average 10-year earnings of its college graduates and the top of the list is the costly Northeast corridor plus DC, not the South.
- State earnings
- Graduate outcomes
- Cost of living
- Geography of pay
- College Scorecard
Where Public College Saves the Most vs Private

In Rhode Island the average public four-year college costs about $19,500 a year less than the average private one. The public discount, ranked by state.
- Net price
- Public vs private college
- State comparison
- College cost
- Affordability
Which State Gives the Best College ROI?

Average earnings per dollar of net price, ranked across 50 states. New Mexico returns 5.8x and tops the list, while Vermont sits last at 2.1x.
- College ROI
- Net price
- Earnings
- State rankings
- Value
American Colleges by the Numbers

One federal dataset, 3,839 colleges. The median school costs $16,371 a year, admits 78% of applicants, and enrolls 1,259 students. The shape of US higher ed.
- Higher education data
- Net price
- College enrollment
- Acceptance rate
- College ownership
The Colleges That Punch Above Their Weight

A handful of schools with little national name recognition post elite-level graduate earnings at a public-college price. The low-cost, high-outcome colleges nobody talks about.
- Hidden gems
- Earnings
- Net price
- Outcomes
- Underrated colleges
The Colleges Where Low-Income Students Earn the Most

Most majority-low-income colleges post below-average earnings. A small set breaks the pattern, sending Pell-grant students to salaries near $75,000 at a public-college price.
- Social mobility
- Pell grant
- Low-income students
- Earnings
- CUNY
The Expensive Colleges That Do Not Deliver the Earnings

295 colleges charge a top-quartile net price yet send graduates into below-median pay. At 88 of them, a full decade of earnings is worth less than one year of cost.
- Net price
- Earnings
- College ROI
- For-profit colleges
- Worst value colleges
The Nursing-School Effect, Why Health Colleges Dominate the Earnings Charts

Health and nursing-named colleges earn 27 percent above the average school, and hospital-run nursing schools turn that into the steepest returns in the data.
- Nursing schools
- Health colleges
- Earnings
- College ROI
- Registered nurse
Tiny but Mighty: The Best Colleges Under 1,000 Students

Most colleges under 1,000 students score below average on a fair outcome ranking. The few that reach the top are a specific type, and the leader earns $128,566.
- Small colleges
- UCD Score
- Earnings
- STEM institutes
- Liberal arts
What 3,839 Colleges Look Like When You Score Them Fairly

Rank a community college against Harvard and the community college always loses. The UCD Score fixes that, and the median lands at 65 in all three peer groups.
- UCD Score
- College rankings
- Peer groups
- Score distribution
- College outcomes