Ranking: Stanford Tops Wall Street Journal’s 2025 Best Colleges In America

by: Kristy Bleizeffer on September 30, 2025 | 5,883 Views

SCHOOLS RANKED FOR BEST VALUE

WSJ’s Best Value ranking looks at how quickly the difference between a school’s graduates’ salaries and those of comparable high-school graduates pays back the average net price of four years of study, or “Years to pay off net price.” 

Here, Baruch College, CUNY, scored highest here with a perfect 100 for value. It has an average net price of $2,978 with a value added graduate salary of $49.499. Its “years to pay off net price” is two months.

Public schools made up 16 of the top 20 in the category. 

WSJ/College Pulse Top 20 For Best Value
Rank
School
Type
State
Score
1 Baruch College, CUNY Public NY 100
2 Hunter College, CUNY Public NY 99.9
3 Brooklyn College, CUNY Public NY 99.8
4 City College of New York, CUNY Public NY 99.7
5 John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY Public NY 99.6
6 Queens College, CUNY Public NY 99.5
7 Lehman College, CUNY Public NY 99.4
8 Princeton University Private NJ 99.2
9 Stanford University Private CA 99.1
10 California State University, Los Angeles Public CA 98.9
11 California State University, Dominguez Hills Public CA 98.8
12 University of Florida Public FL 98.6
13 California State University, Fullerton Public CA 98.5
14 California State University, Stanislaus Public CA 98.4
15 Georgia Institute of Technology, Main Campus Public GA 98.3
16 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Private MA 98.2
17 California State University, San Bernardino Public CA 98.1
18 Rice University Private TX 98
19 University of California, San Diego Public CA 97.8
20 California State University, Fresno Public CA 97.7

 

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