W e’re another year into artificial intelligence infiltrating college campuses and the workplace. Questions high school seniors and their families have been asking for years now have even greater urgency: Is a college degree really worth it? Are the years of student debt and loan payments that often follow graduation worth it? And which schools are most likely to produce a good return on a student’s investment of time and tuition?

To identify the schools likely to produce the best payoff, we put together our list of colleges and universities with the highest return on investment (ROI), or high earnings potential, for a relatively low price. These 25 schools make up a subset of Forbes’ 2027 Top 500 Colleges ranking.

To determine which of the 500 offer their students the best ROI, we focused on the price-to-earnings premium : a calculation from think tank Third Way that shows the number of years it takes to recoup a student’s net cost of the degree (after grants and scholarships are deducted). We also looked at each school’s debt-to-percent-borrowed index—a number we get by multiplying the median federal loan debt per borrower by the percentage of students who took out federal loans at that college. The federal data we used was from the 2024-2025 academic year, the latest available. Forbes comes up with these measurements to help tally the standing for all the schools we feature in the list of the top 500.

The unemployment rate for recent graduates (ages 22-27) rose to 5.7% in June from 4.9% a year earlier and there’s reason to believe that trend could continue. That number is not encouraging for high schoolers debating whether and where to go to college. Even those who believe a college degree is a crucial launching point for a successful career may be stopped short by the astronomical cost—the total “cost of attendance” including tuition, fees, housing, food, books and other expenses now approaches or exceeds $100,000 a year at some private colleges.

The good news is that there are still plenty of schools across the United States ( and abroad ) that can deliver strong educational and career outcomes and powerful financial returns. Even better, these are schools that can suit different types of students and families. There are elite schools, everyman schools, big schools and small schools that offer a healthy ROI. Some rich private colleges offer a high average ROI because they use their massive endowments to award generous scholarships to students, including middle-class ones , who aren’t able to afford their elevated price. Princeton is one of those schools and has claimed the No. 1 spot on our list of 25, up from No. 3 last year.

Princeton’s students—10 years after graduating—are likely to bring in a median salary of $122,000. And with the school’s generous financial aid packages, many students graduate debt-free. Princeton now covers the cost of tuition, food and housing for most families earning under $150,000, while most families earning up to $250,000 receive enough aid to cover tuition. There’s a parody song, “Princeton is free,” performed by the Nasoons, one of Princeton’s most established acapella groups. They sing it to the beat of “Under the Sea,” from Disney’s The Little Mermaid .

At the other extreme, seven of the top 10 spots on our ROI list are held by colleges in the City University of New York (CUNY) system. They routinely outperform other state systems, and most Ivy league schools on our ROI measure. This is largely thanks to their low tuition and fees, the fact that many students save money by living at home, and the access they provide to well-paying jobs across a range of industries in New York City. If you are a resident of New York, tuition costs you less than $10,000 a year. Ten years after graduating, alumni bring home a median salary around $100,000 a year. To be sure, New York City has a high cost of living. But the access and network a CUNY degree provides for some jobs can’t be beat—at least not at that cheap price.

Keep scrolling for our breakdown of the top 25 colleges with the best return on investment. Tuition and fee numbers, and earnings after 10 years are taken from the government’s Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and are for the 2024-2025 school year, the latest available. To learn more about each school, click on the name. To see where each school ranks in the top 500, click here .

Tuition and fees: $62,688

Median base salary after 10 years: $121,773

Tuition and fees for in-state students: $7,382

Tuition and fees for out-of-state students: $15,332

Median base salary after 10 years: $99,517

Tuition and fees for in-state students: $7,452

Tuition and fees for out-of-state students: $15,402

Median base salary after 10 years: $103,370

Tuition and fees for in-state students: $7,358

Tuition and fees for out-of-state students: $15,488

Median base salary after 10 years: $104,801

Tuition and fees for in-state students: $7,410

Tuition and fees for out-of-state students: $15,360

Median base salary after 10 years: $96,130

6. CUNY Bernard M Baruch College

Tuition and fees for in-state students: $7,464

Tuition and fees for out-of-state students: $15,414

Median base salary after 10 years: $113,835

Tuition and fees: $65,910

Median base salary after 10 years: $126,916

8. CUNY John Jay College of Criminal Justice

Tuition and fees for in-state students: $7,470

Tuition and fees for out-of-state students: $15,420

Median base salary after 10 years: $96,701

Tuition and fees for in-state students: $7,340

Tuition and fees for out-of-state students: $15,290

Median base salary after 10 years: $105,796

10. California Institute of Technology

Tuition and fees: $65,898

Median base salary after 10 years: $117,278

Tuition and fees: $64,144

Median base salary after 10 years: $109,721

12. Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Tuition and fees: $62,396

Median base salary after 10 years: $131,182

Tuition and fees: $61,676

Median base salary after 10 years: $119,708

14. University of Florida

Tuition and fees for in-state students: $6,381

Tuition and fees for out-of-state students: $28,659

Median base salary after 10 years: $106,402

15. California State University-Dominguez Hills

Tuition and fees for in-state students: $7,449

Tuition and fees for out-of-state students: $20,049

Median base salary after 10 years: $94,317

16. University of Chicago

Tuition and fees: $70,662

Median base salary after 10 years: $107,812

Tuition and fees: $68,560

Median base salary after 10 years: $111,600

18. Columbia University in the City of New York

Tuition and fees: $71,845

Median base salary after 10 years: $117,010

19. California State University-Stanislaus

Tuition and fees for in-state students: $8,246

Tuition and fees for out-of-state students: $20,846

Median base salary after 10 years: $101,548

20. California State University-Los Angeles

Tuition and fees for in-state students: $7,160

Tuition and fees for out-of-state students: $17,760

Median base salary after 10 years: $93,973

21. Vanderbilt University

Tuition and fees: $67,498

Median base salary after 10 years: $115,467

22. CUNY College of Staten Island

Tuition and fees for in-state students: $7,490

Tuition and fees for out-of-state students: $15,440

Median base salary after 10 years: $98,624

23. Brigham Young University

Median base salary after 10 years: $114,493

24. California State University-Bakersfield

Tuition and fees for in-state students: $8,090

Tuition and fees for out-of-state students: $20,690

Median base salary after 10 years: $101,611

25. Johns Hopkins University

Tuition and fees: $65,230

Median base salary after 10 years: $111,678

*Per the 2024-2025 final release data in IPEDS