Money Moves

Colleges with the best bang for your buck

4.  Stanford University

best bang for buck colleges 04 Stanford University
4
  • 20-year return on investment: $1,010,000
  • Total 4-year cost: $240,000

While most of the colleges on this list are hard to get accepted to, this one is particularly difficult to get in. Stanford accepted just 4.7% of its applicants for the class of 2020 -- making it more selective than any of the eight Ivy League schools.

But a computer science degree from Stanford can help you land a job that pays more than the same degree from any other school, according to Payscale.

First published April 7, 2016: 7:15 AM ET
Source: PayScale
Based on survey data, PayScale calculated the total median pay for a school's undergraduate alumnus over a 20-year career and compared it to that of a high school graduate who worked for 24 years. It took the difference in pay and subtracted the cost of attending school to determine the return on investment in 2015 dollars. The cost of attendance included tuition, room and board, and books -- and adjusted to account for the average grant awarded to students. Alumni who went on to graduate school were excluded from the data.

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