赴美国留学，很多学生都想选个好学校，毕业后能够找个好工作。几十年来，这些全球最著名的大学都倾尽全力的去将各种对自己的名声提高有效的东西网罗到自己的学校之内。但是几年之后，Smartmoney抛弃了那些所谓的虚名为了能够执行一个更简单的评价标准。在PayScale的帮助下，一个西雅图的公司记录了2900万份个人薪水的记录，他们采集了两份这些数据源中校友的中位数：那些刚刚毕业的大学生(毕业大约两年左右的人)和那些到了职业中段(工作了大约15年的人)的数据。对每一类不同的人群，他们校友的各项费用分为学费和杂费，然后对于所有数字求了平均数，最后将数字转化成为一个百分数。最后能够形成一个衡量标准，即我们投入到学习中的费用和我们所能获得的收益相比的一个分数。比如说：假设一个本科毕业生花了10万美元从大学毕业，之后他每年可以赚15万美元，那么这个分数就是150，分数自然是越高越好的了。
在近期的毕业生当中，公立学校的校友每年的收入相当于他们本科四年学杂费的52%，而私立学校只有32%。对于国外的学生，全额费用公立学校要比私立学校低35%，但是很多情况下，就业的选择却没有太大的区别。
绿色阴影处为得分，超过100的得分意味着毕业两年内就能基本能够拿回上学的成本了。
| Rank | School Type | PublicSchool | Payback Ratio | Starting Tuition & Fees (4yrs,class of 1996) | Median Pay(recent graduate) | $Starting Tuition & Fees (4yrs,class of 1996) | Median Pay(mid-career graduate) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Public | Georgia Institute of Technology | 221 | $87,810 | $57,300 | $27,867 | $105,000 |
| 2 | Public | University fo Texas, Austin | 194 | $91,596 | $49,100 | $26,115 | $87,500 |
| 3 | Public | University of Florida | 191 | $73,476 | $45,200 | $26,221 | $84,300 |
| 4 | Public | University of Georgia | 186 | $77,957 | $42,100 | $24,676 | $78,400 |
| 5 | Public | University of Illinois | 184 | $91,382 | $51,500 | $33,808 | $96,500 |
| 6 | Public | Clemson University | 160 | $85,362 | $47,500 | $31,708 | $83,800 |
| 7 | Public | Purdue University | 152 | $86,538 | $50,700 | $36,730 | $88,000 |
| 8 | Public | Colorado School of Mines | 149 | $90,334 | $61,600 | $49,296 | $113,000 |
| 9 | Public | Miami University(Ohio) | 146 | $93,195 | $45,800 | $37,606 | $91,400 |
| 10 | Public | University of California, Berkeley | 146 | $104,815 | $53,100 | $45,304 | $109,000 |
| 11 | Public | Indiana University | 128 | $87,055 | $43,000 | $38,824 | $79,800 |
| 12 | Public | Pennsylvania State University | 126 | $93,108 | $48,600 | $41,848 | $83,900 |
| 13 | Public | University of Rhode Island | 123 | $89,164 | $45,200 | $44,244 | $86,200 |
| 14 | Public | University Connecticut | 121 | $88,824 | $49,500 | $47,128 | $87,700 |
| 15 | Public | Michigan State University | 119 | $90,372 | $44,200 | $42,639 | $81,000 |
| 16 | Public | University of Virginia | 117 | $107,395 | $50,500 | $50,140 | $93,900 |
| 17 | Public | University of Colorado | 114 | $97,918 | $46,200 | $50,510 | $91,500 |
| 18 | Public | College of William & Mary | 111 | $103,799 | $46,900 | $51,926 | $91,700 |
| 19 | Ivy League | Princeton University | 102 | $131,740 | $58,900 | $77,550 | $123,000 |
| 20 | Public | University of New Hampshire | 101 | $93,615 | $44,900 | $49,601 | $76,200 |
| 21 | Ivy League | Dartmouth College | 100 | $137,364 | $54,100 | $76,269 | $123,000 |
| 22 | Ivy League | Harvard University | 99 | $136,977 | $57,300 | $77,104 | $121,000 |
| 23 | Private | Camegie-Mellon University | 99 | $143,540 | $62,400 | $69,860 | $108,000 |
| 24 | Private | Bucknell University | 99 | $146,576 | $55,800 | $72,420 | $115,000 |
| 25 | Ivy League | University of Pennsylvania | 97 | $139,962 | $59,600 | $73,430 | $111,000 |
| 26 | Private | Colgate University | 95 | $145,340 | $48,700 | $76,340 | $119,000 |
| 27 | Private | University of Richmond | 93 | $147,850 | $48,500 | $56,160 | $86,300 |
| 28 | Ivy League | Cornell University | 92 | $135,733 | $57,500 | $74,634 | $105,000 |
| 29 | Public | University of Michigan | 91 | $121,010 | $50,600 | $64,392 | $90,200 |
| 30 | Ivy League | Yale University | 91 | $134,320 | $52,600 | $76,970 | $110,000 |
| 31 | Public | University of Vermont | 88 | $108,852 | $44,700 | $62,673 | $83,800 |
| 32 | Ivy League | Brown University | 87 | $141,654 | $49,400 | $78,027 | $109,000 |
| 33 | Private | Williams College | 86 | $138,770 | $49,900 | $77,195 | $105,000 |
| 34 | Ivy League | Columbia University | 86 | $144,961 | $54,300 | $74,268 | $99,700 |
| 35 | Private | Dickinson College | 84 | $139,942 | $45,900 | $73,110 | $99,100 |
| 36 | Private | Carteton College | 84 | $141,109 | $42,300 | $75,357 | $105,000 |
| 37 | Private | Bowdoin College | 84 | $142,190 | $45,300 | $75,565 | $103,000 |
| 38 | Private | George Washington University | 83 | $145,600 | $48,500 | $70,270 | $93,500 |
| 39 | Private | Hobart and William Smith Colleges | 79 | $143,003 | $42,200 | $75,453 | $97,300 |
| 40 | Private | Tufts University | 78 | $142,891 | $49,900 | $78,903 | $96,400 |
最有价值大学排名前十名如下：
最有价值公立大学排名：
1、乔治亚理工学院
2、德州大学奥斯汀分校
3、佛罗里达大学
4、乔治亚大学
5、伊利诺伊大学
6、克莱姆森大学
7、普渡大学
8、科罗拉多矿业学院
9、迈阿密(俄亥俄州)大学
10、加大伯克利分校
最有价值私立大学排名：
1、普林斯顿大学
2、达特茅斯学院
3、哈佛大学
4、卡耐基梅隆大学
5、巴克奈尔大学
6、宾夕法尼亚大学
7、蔻盖特大学
8、里士满大学
9、康奈尔大学
10、耶鲁大学
(编辑：Ada)
