Wharton and Virginia may top the rankings, but to find the school with the biggest bang for the buck, you need to head south...to the University of Florida
To determine which undergraduate business programs give students the biggest return on their tuition dollar, we compared annual tuition costs with median salaries for grads. Overall, public universities with their lower tuitions did far better than elite private schools, averaging $6.50 in pay for every tuition dollar spent, compared to $2.03 for the privates. The University of Florida, with annual tuition under $3,000 and a median starting salary of $42,000, came out on top among the publics, while Brigham Young--with tuition costs a tenth of those that some elite colleges charge--topped the list of privates. Cornell offers another bargain; while largely a private institution, the business program is in a state-sponsored portion of the school, with a lower tuition cost than many privates.
Public Colleges
Return on Tuition Rank
Overall BW Rank
School
Annual Cost
Median Starting Salary
Salary Per Tuition Dollar
1
43
Florida (Warrington) Gainesville
$2,968
$42,000
$14.15
2
44
Georgia Tech Atlanta
$3,820
$46,250
$12.11
3
15
North Carolina (Kenan-Flagler) Chapel Hill
$5,034
$50,000
$9.93
4
25
Washington Seattle
$5,985
$47,500
$7.94
5
3
UC-Berkeley (Haas) Berkeley, Calif.
$7,704
$55,000
$7.14
6
2
Virginia (McIntire) Charlottesville
$7,845
$52,500
$6.69
6
28
Wisconsin Madison
$6,730
$45,000
$6.69
8
32
Rutgers New Brunswick, N.J.
$8,084
$52,500
$6.49
9
50
Texas A&M (Mays) College Station
$6,966
$44,000
$6.32
10
18
Indiana (Kelley) Bloomington
$7,460
$46,000
$6.17
11
29
William & Mary (Mason) Williamsburg, Va.
$8,490
$50,000
$5.89
12
30
Maryland (Smith) College Park
$7,906
$46,000
$5.82
13
13
Texas-Austin (McCombs)
$8,688
$48,000
$5.52
14
45
Clemson Clemson, S.C.
$9,868
$49,000
$4.97
15
5
Michigan (Ross) Ann Arbor
$11,713
$55,000
$4.70
16
48
Michigan State (Broad) East Lansing
$10,053
$46,600
$4.64
17
42
Minnesota (Carlson) Minneapolis
$9,933
$46,000
$4.63
18
41
Ohio State (Fisher) Columbus
$9,426
$43,000
$4.56
19
22
Illinois Urbana-Champaign
$11,170
$50,000
$4.48
20
35
Miami U. (Farmer) Oxford, Ohio
$9,911
$41,550
$4.19
21
36
Penn State (Smeal) University Park
$13,338
$46,500
$3.49
TOP 50 AVERAGE:
$8,242
$47,733
$6.50
Private Colleges
Return on Tuition Rank
2007 Rank
School
Annual Cost
Median Starting Salary
Salary Per Tuition Dollar
1
8
Brigham Young (Marriott) Provo, Utah
$3,620
$47,000
$12.98
2
10
Cornell Ithaca, N.Y.
$18,241
$53,000
$2.91
3
38
Baylor (Hankamer) Waco, Tex.
$22,889
$48,000
$2.10
4
6
MIT (Sloan) Cambridge, Mass.
$33,400
$60,000
$1.80
5
34
Fordham New York
$30,000
$53,173
$1.77
6
1
Pennsylvania (Wharton) Philadelphia
$34,156
$60,000
$1.76
7
49
Marquette Milwaukee
$25,074
$44,000
$1.75
8
26
Northeastern Boston
$29,910
$50,000
$1.67
8
20
Lehigh Bethlehem, Pa.
$31,180
$52,000
$1.67
10
19
USC (Marshall) Los Angeles
$33,314
$55,000
$1.65
11
24
SMU (Cox) Dallas
$27,400
$45,000
$1.64
11
11
Georgetown (McDonough) Washington, D.C.
$33,552
$55,000
$1.64
13
21
Carnegie Mellon (Tepper) Pittsburgh
$34,180
$55,000
$1.61
14
31
Bentley Waltham, Mass.
$29,810
$47,500
$1.59
15
17
Wake Forest (Calloway) Winston-Salem, N.C.
$32,040
$50,000
$1.56
15
9
NYU (Stern) New York
$34,616
$54,000
$1.56
15
39
Texas Christian (Neeley) Fort Worth
$26,300
$41,000
$1.56
15
4
Emory (Goizueta) Atlanta
$32,100
$50,000
$1.56
19
14
Boston College (Carroll) Boston
$33,000
$51,000
$1.55
20
40
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Lally) Troy, N.Y.
Copyright 2007, by The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. All rights reserved.
