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Rankings / Social Mobility

Most Accessible Elite Colleges

By David Krug, Co-Founder, CollegeRanker · Updated 2026-05-31 · 50 schools · Agent Insights
50
Schools Analyzed
$69,164
Avg. Earnings (10yr)
74%
Avg. Graduation Rate
$20,714
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 $69,164
Avg. graduation rate 74%
Avg. net price $20,714
Avg. median debt $20,706

How We Ranked

Among high-success-rate schools (>30% of bottom-quintile grads reach top quintile), ranked by what share of students actually come from the bottom 20%. Access × excellence.

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$68K$120K$0$50KNET PRICEAuburn UniversityUniversity ofColorado CollegeColorado SchoolGeorgia Institute

Graduation Rates

Longer bars = higher graduation rate.

Auburn University81%University of Connecticut84%Colorado College87%Colorado School of Mines81%Georgia Institute of Tec…93%University of Georgia89%University of Iowa74%University of Florida91%University of South Flor…76%Michigan State University81%Michigan Technological U…68%Louisiana Tech University61%Oakland University57%University of Southern M…50%The University of Montana47%New Jersey Institute of …73%North Carolina A & T Sta…56%University of North Caro…92%University of Toledo56%Oklahoma City University65%

Top 3

#1

Auburn University

Auburn, AL

Graduation81%
Earnings$65,337
Net Price$24,323

View full profile →
#2

University of Connecticut

Storrs, CT

Graduation84%
Earnings$73,997
Net Price$25,097

View full profile →
#3

Colorado College

Colorado Springs, CO

Graduation87%
Earnings$65,222
Net Price$33,375

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Full Rankings

#1

Auburn University

Auburn, AL · 26,816 students · Public

46% accepted 81% graduate $65,337 earnings
Auburn's full profile
#2

University of Connecticut

Storrs, CT · 19,835 students · Public

52% accepted 84% graduate $73,997 earnings
University's full profile
#3

Colorado College

Colorado Springs, CO · 2,014 students · Private nonprofit

18% accepted 87% graduate $65,222 earnings
Colorado's full profile
#4

Colorado School of Mines

Golden, CO · 6,155 students · Public

61% accepted 81% graduate $97,335 earnings
Colorado's full profile
#5

Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus

Atlanta, GA · 18,785 students · Public

14% accepted 93% graduate $102,772 earnings
Georgia's full profile
#6

University of Georgia

Athens, GA · 32,137 students · Public

38% accepted 89% graduate $68,726 earnings
University's full profile
#7

University of Iowa

Iowa City, IA · 22,264 students · Public

84% accepted 74% graduate $64,762 earnings
University's full profile
#8

University of Florida

Gainesville, FL · 35,629 students · Public

24% accepted 91% graduate $71,588 earnings
University's full profile
#9

University of South Florida

Tampa, FL · 37,207 students · Public

43% accepted 76% graduate $57,743 earnings
University's full profile
#10

Michigan State University

East Lansing, MI · 40,922 students · Public

85% accepted 81% graduate $67,253 earnings
Michigan's full profile
#11

Michigan Technological University

Houghton, MI · 5,955 students · Public

92% accepted 68% graduate $78,198 earnings
Michigan's full profile
#12

Louisiana Tech University

Ruston, LA · 8,312 students · Public

86% accepted 61% graduate $52,279 earnings
Louisiana's full profile
#13

Oakland University

Rochester Hills, MI · 12,351 students · Public

88% accepted 57% graduate $58,612 earnings
Oakland's full profile
#14

University of Southern Mississippi

Hattiesburg, MS · 10,075 students · Public

99% accepted 50% graduate $44,140 earnings
University's full profile
#15

The University of Montana

Missoula, MT · 7,488 students · Public

96% accepted 47% graduate $44,511 earnings
The's full profile
#16

New Jersey Institute of Technology

Newark, NJ · 9,019 students · Public

65% accepted 73% graduate $84,276 earnings
New's full profile
#17

North Carolina A & T State University

Greensboro, NC · 12,182 students · Public

50% accepted 56% graduate $44,440 earnings
North's full profile
#18

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
#19

University of Toledo

Toledo, OH · 9,770 students · Public

92% accepted 56% graduate $50,632 earnings
University's full profile
#20

Oklahoma City University

Oklahoma City, OK · 1,514 students · Private nonprofit

77% accepted 65% graduate $54,655 earnings
Oklahoma's full profile
#21

University of Oregon

Eugene, OR · 20,497 students · Public

88% accepted 72% graduate $61,324 earnings
University's full profile
#22

Clemson University

Clemson, SC · 23,300 students · Public

38% accepted 87% graduate $71,513 earnings
Clemson's full profile
#23

South Carolina State University

Orangeburg, SC · 2,934 students · Public

83% accepted 33% graduate $38,262 earnings
South's full profile
#24

George Mason University

Fairfax, VA · 27,752 students · Public

87% accepted 69% graduate $76,343 earnings
George's full profile
#25

Old Dominion University

Norfolk, VA · 17,514 students · Public

90% accepted 45% graduate $54,914 earnings
Old's full profile
#26

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Blacksburg, VA · 30,923 students · Public

55% accepted 86% graduate $81,698 earnings
Virginia's full profile
#27

Virginia State University

Petersburg, VA · 5,074 students · Public

89% accepted 40% graduate $45,543 earnings
Virginia's full profile
#28

University of Utah

Salt Lake City, UT · 27,264 students · Public

86% accepted 64% graduate $67,170 earnings
University's full profile
#29

William & Mary

Williamsburg, VA · 7,055 students · Public

34% accepted 90% graduate $73,490 earnings
William's full profile
#30

University of Arkansas

Fayetteville, AR · 28,677 students · Public

74% accepted 70% graduate $58,191 earnings
University's full profile
#31

Yale University

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

4% accepted 96% graduate $100,533 earnings
Yale's full profile
#32

University of Delaware

Newark, DE · 19,071 students · Public

71% accepted 80% graduate $72,950 earnings
University's full profile
#33

American University

Washington, DC · 7,266 students · Private nonprofit

62% accepted 77% graduate $77,370 earnings
American's full profile
#34

George Washington University

Washington, DC · 11,182 students · Private nonprofit

47% accepted 85% graduate $90,873 earnings
George's full profile
#35

University of San Francisco

San Francisco, CA · 5,287 students · Private nonprofit

62% accepted 71% graduate $89,812 earnings
University's full profile
#36

University of Southern California

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

10% accepted 92% graduate $92,498 earnings
University's full profile
#37

Emory University

Atlanta, GA · 7,298 students · Private nonprofit

11% accepted 91% graduate $80,137 earnings
Emory's full profile
#38

Georgia State University

Atlanta, GA · 26,623 students · Public

55% accepted 53% graduate $47,384 earnings
Georgia's full profile
#39

University of Idaho

Moscow, ID · 7,747 students · Public

76% accepted 59% graduate $54,670 earnings
University's full profile
#40

University of Notre Dame

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

11% accepted 96% graduate $99,980 earnings
University's full profile
#41

Florida Institute of Technology

Melbourne, FL · 3,404 students · Private nonprofit

58% accepted 64% graduate $43,137 earnings
Florida's full profile
#42

Florida International University

Miami, FL · 39,508 students · Public

55% accepted 74% graduate $60,249 earnings
Florida's full profile
#43

Florida State University

Tallahassee, FL · 32,212 students · Public

24% accepted 84% graduate $61,675 earnings
Florida's full profile
#44

University of Miami

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

19% accepted 84% graduate $75,328 earnings
University's full profile
#45

University of Chicago

Chicago, IL · 7,569 students · Private nonprofit

4% accepted 95% graduate $91,885 earnings
University's full profile
#46

Illinois Institute of Technology

Chicago, IL · 2,833 students · Private nonprofit

55% accepted 74% graduate $82,592 earnings
Illinois's full profile
#47

Tufts University

Medford, MA · 7,061 students · Private nonprofit

11% accepted 93% graduate $83,214 earnings
Tufts's full profile
#48

Johns Hopkins University

Baltimore, MD · 5,693 students · Private nonprofit

6% accepted 94% graduate $87,555 earnings
Johns's full profile
#49

University of Kansas

Lawrence, KS · 21,217 students · Public

93% accepted 69% graduate $61,945 earnings
University's full profile
#50

Kansas State University

Manhattan, KS · 15,142 students · Public

82% accepted 71% graduate $57,262 earnings
Kansas'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]

Chetty, R., Jackson, M., Kuchler, T., et al. (2022). Social Capital I: Measurement and Associations with Economic Mobility. Nature, 608, 108-121. →

[3]

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

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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