See the 2025 ‘Best Value Colleges’ in America: study

(NEXSTAR) – High school seniors often talk about their dream school while applying for college, but what about the best value school?

Despite conjuring up visions of commuting from mom and dad’s house to a reasonably-priced city college, the latest ranking of the “Best Value Colleges” by Niche has a number of Ivy League institutions in the top 25.

Value, according to Niche, an education data and review site, was defined for the study using 15 different factors – many of which were measured in the years after graduation.

The two most heavily-weighted factors were the average return on investment by 30 and the economic mobility index, followed by the average net price, graduation rate, loan default rate, median earnings one year after graduation and median earnings six years after graduation.

For the second straight year in a row, Harvey Mudd College in the greater Los Angeles area took the top spot. The small private college in Claremont, California had about 900 students in 2024 and is known for its low acceptance rate with around 13% of applicants admitted. Graduates of Harvey Mudd go on to make a starting salary over $72,000, according to Niche.

In second place is Stanford University, an elite private university in tony Stanford, California. The school is both larger than Harvey Mudd – the student body included over 7,700 students in 2024 – and more competitive, with an acceptance rate of only 4%. On average, Stanford alumni made a starting salary of just over $70,000 last year.

The last university in the top three, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, had the highest starting salary with MIT grads going on to make over $82,000 on average after graduating. While academically elite, some students were less excited about the athletics programs at the Cambridge, Massachusetts institution.

Deciding on a college is a huge life decision, made weightier by the jaw-dropping price tag that can come with admission. The cost can run up as high as $95,000, with several private colleges exceeding the $90,000 threshold this year, according to the Associated Press.

When it comes to the best value for your money, here is the full list of the top 25 schools in the U.S., according to Niche:

University	Metro Area	State
Harvey Mudd College	Los Angeles Area	CA
Stanford University	San Francisco Bay Area	CA
Massachusetts Institute of Technology	Boston Area	MA
California Institute of Technology	Los Angeles Area	CA
Yale University		CT
Harvard University	Boston Area	MA
Claremont McKenna College	Los Angeles Area	CA
Pomona College	Los Angeles Area	CA
Princeton University		NJ
University of Pennsylvania	Philadelphia Area	PA
Williams College		MA
Dartmouth College		NH
Rice University	Houston Area	TX
Duke University	Raleigh Area	NC
Georgia Institute of Technology	Atlanta Area	GA
CUNY Baruch College	New York City Area	NY
Carnegie Mellon University	Pittsburgh Area	PA
Columbia University	New York City Area	NY
Johns Hopkins University	Baltimore Area	MD
New Mexico Tech		NM
Lehman College – City University of New York (CUNY)	New York City Area	NY
Georgetown University	Washington, D.C. Area	DC
Amherst College	Springfield, MA Area	MA
California State University – Maritime Academy	San Francisco Bay Area	CA

Niche data scientists used information from the U.S. Dept. of Education and the Census Bureau, along with results of student surveys, to create the “Best Value Colleges” study. See the website for more information on the methodology.

Niche’s annual rankings span a wide variety of education-related topics, from the best campuses to the top party schools in America.