1 Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) (In-State) $97,710 $560,900 10.2% 83%
2 Washington and Lee University $216,800 $558,900 6.8% 90%
3 University of Virginia (UVA) - Main Campus (In-State) $94,300 $550,700 10.3% 93%
4 The College of William and Mary (In-State) $98,400 $509,300 9.7% 90%
5 Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) (Out-Of-State) $157,800 $500,800 7.6% 83%
6 George Mason University (In-State) $95,730 $497,300 9.7% 66%
7 James Madison University (JMU) (In-State) $87,370 $490,900 10.1% 80%
8 University of Mary Washington (In-State) $83,830 $464,800 10.0% 76%
9 University of Virginia (UVA) - Main Campus (Out-Of-State) $191,600 $453,400 6.4% 93%
10 James Madison University (JMU) (Out-Of-State) $142,300 $436,000 7.4% 80%
11 University of Richmond $217,600 $432,600 5.8% 83%
12 George Mason University (Out-Of-State) $170,500 $422,500 6.6% 66%
13 The College of William and Mary (Out-Of-State) $188,400 $419,200 6.2% 90%
14 University of Mary Washington (Out-Of-State) $132,500 $416,100 7.5% 76%
15 Old Dominion University (In-State) $88,430 $305,900 7.9% 49%
16 Marymount University - Arlington, VA $158,300 $278,300 5.4% 50%
17 Hampton University $133,300 $264,900 5.8% 59%
18 Old Dominion University (Out-Of-State) $143,200 $251,100 5.4% 49%
19 Christopher Newport University (In-State) $98,990 $245,500 6.6% 67%
20 Christopher Newport University (Out-Of-State) $136,400 $208,000 4.9% 67%
21 Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) (In-State) $109,900 $207,400 5.6% 56%
22 Shenandoah University $172,300 $201,800 4.1% 38%
23 Bridgewater College $164,800 $190,000 4.1% 57%
24 Radford University (In-State) $82,610 $167,700 5.9% 60%
25 Longwood University (In-State) $97,730 $165,100 5.2% 61%
26 Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) (Out-Of-State) $171,700 $145,600 3.3% 56%
27 Radford University (Out-Of-State) $128,900 $121,400 3.5% 60%
28 Longwood University (Out-Of-State) $144,600 $118,300 3.2% 61%
29 Liberty University $135,600 $96,940 2.9% 46%
30 Virginia State University (VSU) (In-State) $82,150 $83,040 3.7% 42%
31 Norfolk State University (In-State) $93,290 $76,410 3.2% 34%
32 Virginia Wesleyan College (VWC) $167,600 $44,130 1.3% 48%
33 Virginia State University (VSU) (Out-Of-State) $121,300 $43,900 1.7% 42%
34 Eastern Mennonite University $156,600 $39,520 1.3% 59%
35 Lynchburg College $168,500 $31,770 1.0% 57%
36 Norfolk State University (Out-Of-State) $154,800 $14,850 .6% 34%
37 Bluefield College - Bluefield, VA $162,700 $-123,000 -6.7% 34%

or not.

Is this because most students that go there major in engineering and science degrees?

I'm not seeing that kind of return on my African-Americans Studies degree... this proves how racist our society is!

What do those numbers represent? I assume the first is tuition for 4 years, does that include books etc?

Where is VMI on the list?

what is new graduate's salary compared to total college costs? that is the benchmark for return of investment.

if a newly minted graduate makes 40K and college cost 80K, that kid returned the investment in 2 years.

if you make 30K and college cost $120K, the investment will be returned in 4 years.

a goal should be to return the investment in 2 years or less.

med school and law school are exceptions because their return is in the future.

Check your numbers. It looks like the ROI for VT is 10.2% while the ROI for UVA is 10.3%.

And does it really cost almost $160k to get a 4 year degree from Marymount?

these are sort of meaningless numbers.

are they projecting mid level collective career earnings or top level?

lets say a female spends 200K on a art history degree from princeton, then gets married, has kids and never starts a career path. that would signify a 0% from a highly ranked school.

if a person spends $80K on a history degree from William and mary cannot find employement, that would equal a 0% from a highly ranked school.

if a student spends $40 K by going to nova for 2 years, then earns $60K the first year, that person returned their investment in less than 1 years. if that same person worked for 10 years, then stopped to raise a family for 18 years, their career earnings would post a very low percent.

Total BS
JMU was tougher to get into this year. I've seen data