U.S. Academic Quality per Dollar Ranking

These colleges are CollegeCalc's 2020 ranking of the best value colleges in America based on tuition dollar spent. While most of these schools don't have the low published tuition, attractive net prices through generous financial packages combined with academic excellence offer students the highest return on education dollar investment. In order to be considered, schools must possess very high academic standing coupled with costs commensurate to the education provided. University of Washington Seattle Campus leads the list with a 88 academic rank and a $9,443 average net price.

Rating is a CollegeCalc proprietary national percentile ranking of a college's overall difficulty and educational effectiveness. An average score is 50. Dollar value is a measure of a school's academic rating compared with the average net price paid. Colleges which are ranked "n/a" didn't report sufficient data to formulate a score. Learn more about our rating methodology.

All price data are reprinted from the U.S. Department of Education's 2018-2019 IPEDS Survey and reflect reported costs for the 2018-2019 academic year.

America's Best Value Colleges by Academic Quality per Dollar

Average Net Price	College	Rating	$Value
$17,030 Average Net Price	21) Harvard University Massachusetts, Private Not-For-Profit	99	82
$14,496 Average Net Price	22) State University of New York at New Paltz New York, Public Not-For-Profit	83	82
$16,594 Average Net Price	23) University of Virginia Main Campus Virginia, Public Not-For-Profit	97	82
$18,178 Average Net Price	24) University of California Berkeley California, Public Not-For-Profit	97	81
$16,446 Average Net Price	25) University of California Davis California, Public Not-For-Profit	91	81
$18,427 Average Net Price	26) Pomona College California, Private Not-For-Profit	98	81
$18,053 Average Net Price	27) Yale University Connecticut, Private Not-For-Profit	99	81
$16,450 Average Net Price	28) Florida State University Florida, Public Not-For-Profit	88	81
$16,775 Average Net Price	29) SUNY at Binghamton New York, Public Not-For-Profit	90	81
$17,415 Average Net Price	30) College of William and Mary Virginia, Public Not-For-Profit	93	81
$15,910 Average Net Price	31) University of Wisconsin Madison Wisconsin, Public Not-For-Profit	87	81
$16,792 Average Net Price	32) University of California Santa Cruz California, Public Not-For-Profit	87	80
$16,638 Average Net Price	33) University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign Illinois, Public Not-For-Profit	83	80
$17,241 Average Net Price	34) University of Maryland College Park Maryland, Public Not-For-Profit	90	80
$19,519 Average Net Price	35) Amherst College Massachusetts, Private Not-For-Profit	98	80
$16,808 Average Net Price	36) University of Minnesota Twin Cities Minnesota, Public Not-For-Profit	85	80
$16,016 Average Net Price	37) Rutgers University New Brunswick New Jersey, Public Not-For-Profit	82	80
$16,085 Average Net Price	38) Virginia Military Institute Virginia, Public Not-For-Profit	83	80
$19,002 Average Net Price	39) California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo California, Public Not-For-Profit	91	79
$20,361 Average Net Price	40) Colby College Maine, Private Not-For-Profit	96	79

• ← Previous 20
• View All 248
• Next 20→

---

• American Price Rankings
  • Lowest Net Price
  • Highest Net Price
  • Most Affordable In State Tuition
  • Most Affordable In State Total
  • Most Affordable Out of State Tuition
  • Most Affordable Out of State Total
  • Most Affordable Online
  • Most Expensive In State Tuition
  • Most Expensive In State Total
  • Most Expensive Out of State Tuition
  • Most Expensive Out of State Total