An undergraduate business degree from the University of California, Berkeley has the best return on investment, according to a ranking from salary-tracking website PayScale.
In compiling its ranking, PayScale looked at salary data for employees with bachelor's degrees in business. The net cost of each school was determined by looking at graduation rates, financial aid, and campus costs — tuition and extra fees such as room, board, and books.
By looking at data across college majors, PayScale found that Harvey Mudd College has the best return on investment of any American school.
PayScale ranked the colleges on a 20-year net ROI, defined as "the total earnings, minus the cost of the degree, minus the average earnings over the person with only a high school education," according to 538, where we first saw this report.
Click over to PayScale's website for more on their methodology >>
Since some of the degrees are mentioned twice in the top 10 for in-state and out-of-state tuition benefit, we've only included the out-of-state rankings.
UC Berkeley topped PayScale's list with a $231,800 total out-of-state price tag to graduate, but a total 20-year income of $937,700 — the only school to have an ROI of over $900,000. Here are PayScale's 10 undergraduate business degrees with the best ROI:
- University of California, Berkeley — Cost: $231,800, ROI: $937,700
- Washington and Lee University — Cost: $216,800, ROI: $807,000
- University of Virginia — Cost: $191,600, ROI: $735,800
- Babson College — Cost: $226,100, ROI: $729,000
- Rutgers University — Cost: $171,100, ROI: $720,100
- Boston College — Cost: $224,600, ROI: $705,800
- Saint Mary's College of California — Cost: $223,200, ROI: $702,400
- Lehigh University — Cost: $219,200, ROI: $665,600
- New York University — Cost: $235,200, ROI: $661,000
- Santa Clara University — Cost: $224,000, ROI: $660,100
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