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Rankings / Innovation

Colleges That Spend the Most on Instruction

By David Krug, Co-Founder, CollegeRanker · Updated 2026-05-31 · 50 schools · Agent Insights
50
Schools Analyzed
$88,891
Avg. Earnings (10yr)
91%
Avg. Graduation Rate
$26,181
Avg. Net Price

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This ranking scores 50 institutions on graduation rates, graduate earnings, debt burdens, and social mobility data from Opportunity Insights. Every data point comes from federal sources. No surveys, no opinions.

Social mobility carries the heaviest weight in our algorithm. We use Raj Chetty's Mobility Report Card — built on 30 million anonymized tax records — to measure whether a college changes a family's economic trajectory across generations. Schools that take low-income students and launch them into higher earnings rank higher than schools that admit wealthy students and take credit for their success.

The transparency penalty matters here. Schools that don't report their data get scored lower than schools that do. If an institution won't show you its numbers, we think you should know that before you write them a tuition check.

Quick Numbers

Schools ranked 50
Avg. earnings at 10yr $88,891
Avg. graduation rate 91%
Avg. net price $26,181
Avg. median debt $16,835

How We Ranked

Instructional expenditure per student — how much is invested in actual teaching vs. admin/marketing.

Read our full methodology →

Earnings vs. Cost

Each dot is a ranked school. Up = higher earnings. Right = higher cost. Top-left is the best value.

$15K$79K$143K$0$50KNET PRICEYale UniversityUniversity ofJohns HopkinsWashington UniversityDuke University

Graduation Rates

Longer bars = higher graduation rate.

Yale University96%University of Chicago95%Johns Hopkins University94%Washington University in…94%Duke University96%Vanderbilt University93%Stanford University92%Columbia University in t…96%California Institute of …94%University of Pennsylvan…97%Massachusetts Institute …96%Princeton University97%Emory University91%University of Southern C…92%Rice University95%Harvard University97%Williams College95%Wellesley College91%Northwestern University96%Pomona College93%

Top 3

#1

Yale University

New Haven, CT

Graduation96%
Earnings$100,533
Net Price$23,777

View full profile →
#2

University of Chicago

Chicago, IL

Graduation95%
Earnings$91,885
Net Price$14,860

View full profile →
#3

Johns Hopkins University

Baltimore, MD

Graduation94%
Earnings$87,555
Net Price$18,809

View full profile →

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Full Rankings

#1

Yale University

New Haven, CT · 6,758 students · Private nonprofit

4% accepted 96% graduate $100,533 earnings
Yale's full profile
#2

University of Chicago

Chicago, IL · 7,569 students · Private nonprofit

4% accepted 95% graduate $91,885 earnings
University's full profile
#3

Johns Hopkins University

Baltimore, MD · 5,693 students · Private nonprofit

6% accepted 94% graduate $87,555 earnings
Johns's full profile
#4

Washington University in St Louis

St. Louis, MO · 7,857 students · Private nonprofit

12% accepted 94% graduate $86,182 earnings
Washington's full profile
#5

Duke University

Durham, NC · 6,442 students · Private nonprofit

6% accepted 96% graduate $97,800 earnings
Duke's full profile
#6

Vanderbilt University

Nashville, TN · 7,208 students · Private nonprofit

6% accepted 93% graduate $91,565 earnings
Vanderbilt's full profile
#7

Stanford University

Stanford, CA · 7,554 students · Private nonprofit

4% accepted 92% graduate $124,080 earnings
Stanford's full profile
#8

Columbia University in the City of New York

New York, NY · 8,973 students · Private nonprofit

4% accepted 96% graduate $102,491 earnings
Columbia's full profile
#9

California Institute of Technology

Pasadena, CA · 987 students · Private nonprofit

3% accepted 94% graduate $128,566 earnings
California's full profile
#10

University of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, PA · 10,650 students · Private nonprofit

5% accepted 97% graduate $111,371 earnings
University's full profile
#11

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Cambridge, MA · 4,535 students · Private nonprofit

5% accepted 96% graduate $143,372 earnings
Massachusetts's full profile
#12

Princeton University

Princeton, NJ · 5,709 students · Private nonprofit

5% accepted 97% graduate $110,066 earnings
Princeton's full profile
#13

Emory University

Atlanta, GA · 7,298 students · Private nonprofit

11% accepted 91% graduate $80,137 earnings
Emory's full profile
#14

University of Southern California

Los Angeles, CA · 20,443 students · Private nonprofit

10% accepted 92% graduate $92,498 earnings
University's full profile
#15

Rice University

Houston, TX · 4,776 students · Private nonprofit

8% accepted 95% graduate $89,718 earnings
Rice's full profile
#16

Harvard University

Cambridge, MA · 7,601 students · Private nonprofit

4% accepted 97% graduate $101,817 earnings
Harvard's full profile
#17

Williams College

Williamstown, MA · 2,076 students · Private nonprofit

8% accepted 95% graduate $88,665 earnings
Williams's full profile
#18

Wellesley College

Wellesley, MA · 2,300 students · Private nonprofit

14% accepted 91% graduate $84,803 earnings
Wellesley's full profile
#19

Northwestern University

Evanston, IL · 9,201 students · Private nonprofit

8% accepted 96% graduate $89,363 earnings
Northwestern's full profile
#20

Pomona College

Claremont, CA · 1,666 students · Private nonprofit

7% accepted 93% graduate $77,779 earnings
Pomona's full profile
#21

Brown University

Providence, RI · 7,226 students · Private nonprofit

5% accepted 96% graduate $93,487 earnings
Brown's full profile
#22

Gallaudet University

Washington, DC · 812 students · Private nonprofit

58% accepted 47% graduate $43,101 earnings
Gallaudet's full profile
#23

University of Rochester

Rochester, NY · 6,331 students · Private nonprofit

40% accepted 85% graduate $79,042 earnings
University's full profile
#24

Carnegie Mellon University

Pittsburgh, PA · 7,304 students · Private nonprofit

12% accepted 93% graduate $114,862 earnings
Carnegie's full profile
#25

Bard College

Annandale-On-Hudson, NY · 2,414 students · Private nonprofit

52% accepted 70% graduate $46,543 earnings
Bard's full profile
#26

Middlebury College

Middlebury, VT · 2,738 students · Private nonprofit

11% accepted 92% graduate $76,310 earnings
Middlebury's full profile
#27

Case Western Reserve University

Cleveland, OH · 6,437 students · Private nonprofit

37% accepted 87% graduate $87,989 earnings
Case's full profile
#28

University of Miami

Coral Gables, FL · 12,913 students · Private nonprofit

19% accepted 84% graduate $75,328 earnings
University's full profile
#29

Scripps College

Claremont, CA · 1,113 students · Private nonprofit

38% accepted 85% graduate $77,539 earnings
Scripps's full profile
#30

University of Notre Dame

Notre Dame, IN · 8,818 students · Private nonprofit

11% accepted 96% graduate $99,980 earnings
University's full profile
#31

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Chapel Hill, NC · 20,752 students · Public

15% accepted 92% graduate $72,200 earnings
University's full profile
#32

New York University

New York, NY · 28,663 students · Private nonprofit

9% accepted 88% graduate $82,509 earnings
New's full profile
#33

Harvey Mudd College

Claremont, CA · 921 students · Private nonprofit

13% accepted 93% graduate $138,687 earnings
Harvey's full profile
#34

Swarthmore College

Swarthmore, PA · 1,613 students · Private nonprofit

7% accepted 93% graduate $80,257 earnings
Swarthmore's full profile
#35

Yeshiva University

New York, NY · 2,852 students · Private nonprofit

56% accepted 83% graduate $71,353 earnings
Yeshiva's full profile
#36

Vassar College

Poughkeepsie, NY · 2,444 students · Private nonprofit

19% accepted 90% graduate $71,366 earnings
Vassar's full profile
#37

Wake Forest University

Winston-Salem, NC · 5,485 students · Private nonprofit

22% accepted 90% graduate $78,158 earnings
Wake's full profile
#38

Oberlin College

Oberlin, OH · 2,887 students · Private nonprofit

34% accepted 80% graduate $58,343 earnings
Oberlin's full profile
#39

Hamilton College

Clinton, NY · 2,030 students · Private nonprofit

14% accepted 91% graduate $78,411 earnings
Hamilton's full profile
#40

Bryn Mawr College

Bryn Mawr, PA · 1,359 students · Private nonprofit

29% accepted 84% graduate $75,217 earnings
Bryn's full profile
#41

Washington and Lee University

Lexington, VA · 1,881 students · Private nonprofit

14% accepted 94% graduate $94,810 earnings
Washington's full profile
#42

Haverford College

Haverford, PA · 1,430 students · Private nonprofit

12% accepted 90% graduate $79,966 earnings
Haverford's full profile
#43

Claremont McKenna College

Claremont, CA · 1,388 students · Private nonprofit

10% accepted 93% graduate $104,736 earnings
Claremont's full profile
#44

Smith College

Northampton, MA · 2,544 students · Private nonprofit

21% accepted 89% graduate $64,027 earnings
Smith's full profile
#45

Georgetown University

Washington, DC · 7,569 students · Private nonprofit

13% accepted 95% graduate $103,494 earnings
Georgetown's full profile
#46

Boston University

Boston, MA · 18,248 students · Private nonprofit

11% accepted 89% graduate $83,238 earnings
Boston's full profile
#47

Dartmouth College

Hanover, NH · 4,541 students · Private nonprofit

5% accepted 96% graduate $97,434 earnings
Dartmouth's full profile
#48

Bowdoin College

Brunswick, ME · 1,873 students · Private nonprofit

7% accepted 95% graduate $82,735 earnings
Bowdoin's full profile
#49

Carleton College

Northfield, MN · 2,086 students · Private nonprofit

20% accepted 90% graduate $75,525 earnings
Carleton's full profile
#50

Amherst College

Amherst, MA · 1,911 students · Private nonprofit

9% accepted 94% graduate $77,644 earnings
Amherst's full profile

Sources & Citations

[1]

Chetty, R., Friedman, J., Saez, E., Turner, N., & Yagan, D. (2017). Mobility Report Cards: The Role of Colleges in Intergenerational Mobility. NBER Working Paper No. 23618. →

[2]

U.S. Department of Education. College Scorecard Data. Federal Student Aid, National Center for Education Statistics. →

[3]

Bell, A., Chetty, R., Jaravel, X., Petkova, N., & Van Reenen, J. (2019). Who Becomes an Inventor in America? The Importance of Exposure to Innovation. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 134(2), 647-713. →

DK

David Krug

Co-Founder, CollegeRanker

David Krug is the co-founder of CollegeRanker and a data systems architect focused on making institutional research accessible to families. He builds the data pipelines and ranking algorithms that power CollegeRanker, drawing from federal datasets and Raj Chetty's Opportunity Insights research to measure what traditional rankings ignore: whether a college actually changes a family's economic trajectory.

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