Ordered by median earnings ten years after entry — with the debt each cohort carries, because a big salary against a bigger loan is not a win. The typical graded US university clears its debt in 1.3 years on median earnings of $57,089 against $22,500 of debt.
| # | University | Grade | You borrow | Monthly | You earn | Debt clears in |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology Massachusetts | A | $14,768 | $168 | $143,372 | 0.1 yrs |
| 2 | Harvey Mudd College California | A | $25,000 | $284 | $138,687 | 0.3 yrs |
| 3 | Stanford University California | A | $12,000 | $136 | $124,080 | 0.1 yrs |
| 4 | Babson College | A | $20,000 | $227 | $123,938 | 0.2 yrs |
| 5 | Bentley University Massachusetts | A | $25,023 | $285 | $120,959 | 0.3 yrs |
| 6 | Carnegie Mellon University Pennsylvania | A | $21,750 | $247 | $114,862 | 0.3 yrs |
| 7 | University of Pennsylvania Pennsylvania | A | $15,715 | $179 | $111,371 | 0.2 yrs |
| 8 | Princeton University New Jersey | A | $10,320 | $117 | $110,066 | 0.2 yrs |
| 9 | Santa Clara University California | A | $19,162 | $218 | $109,183 | 0.3 yrs |
| 10 | Stevens Institute of Technology | A | $27,000 | $307 | $108,772 | 0.4 yrs |
| 11 | Lehigh University | A | $21,960 | $250 | $105,584 | 0.3 yrs |
| 12 | Claremont McKenna College | A | $13,500 | $153 | $104,736 | 0.2 yrs |
| 13 | Cornell University New York | A | $14,000 | $159 | $104,043 | 0.2 yrs |
| 14 | Worcester Polytechnic Institute | A | $27,000 | $307 | $103,470 | 0.4 yrs |
| 15 | Georgia Institute of Technology Georgia | A | $21,672 | $246 | $102,772 | 0.3 yrs |
| 16 | Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute | A | $23,750 | $270 | $102,051 | 0.4 yrs |
| 17 | Harvard University Massachusetts | A | $14,000 | $159 | $101,817 | 0.2 yrs |
| 18 | Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology | A | $25,000 | $284 | $101,253 | 0.4 yrs |
| 19 | Yale University Connecticut | A | $12,975 | $148 | $100,533 | 0.2 yrs |
| 20 | Villanova University Pennsylvania | A | $25,874 | $294 | $100,423 | 0.4 yrs |
| 21 | University of Notre Dame | A | $19,000 | $216 | $99,980 | 0.3 yrs |
| 22 | Duke University North Carolina | A | $13,000 | $148 | $97,800 | 0.2 yrs |
| 23 | Dartmouth College New Hampshire | A | $17,500 | $199 | $97,434 | 0.3 yrs |
| 24 | Colorado School of Mines | A | $23,000 | $262 | $97,335 | 0.4 yrs |
| 25 | SUNY Maritime College | A | $23,250 | $264 | $95,951 | 0.4 yrs |
| 26 | Kettering University Michigan | A | $27,000 | $307 | $94,823 | 0.5 yrs |
| 27 | Washington & Lee University | A | $19,500 | $222 | $94,810 | 0.4 yrs |
| 28 | Bucknell University | A | $27,000 | $307 | $93,807 | 0.5 yrs |
| 29 | Brown University | A | $11,428 | $130 | $93,487 | 0.2 yrs |
| 30 | University of Southern California California | A | $18,000 | $205 | $92,498 | 0.3 yrs |
Several universities near the top of this list also carry some of the heaviest borrowing in the country. Earning well while repaying heavily is not obviously better than earning less with nothing to repay — which is why the debt column sits right beside the salary.
The earnings figure blends every subject a university teaches. A campus that teaches nothing but medicine or engineering reports the medicine or engineering number; a broad university reports a blended one, however strong its individual departments are.
Source: US Department of Education College Scorecard. Figures cover students who received federal financial aid and blend every subject at each institution. Information only, not financial advice.