The list was built using the following criteria:
- Payscale's 2015 College Salary Report
- U.S. News & World Report's national rankings
- Credit per hour tuition rate as reported by each individual college
- NIH Funding (if applicable)
The University of Alabama at Birmingham takes the top spot, followed by the University of Washington and Arizona State University, respectively.
Schools making the list include (in alphabetical order):
Arizona State University - Tempe, AZ
Boston College - Boston, MA
Columbia University - New York City, NY
Duke University - Durham, NC
Emory University - Atlanta, GA
Florida Atlantic University - Boca Raton, FL
George Mason University - Fairfax, VA
Indiana University - Purdue University- Indianapolis - Indianapolis, IN
Johns Hopkins University - Baltimore, MD
Loyola University Chicago - Chicago, IL
Marquette University - Milwaukee, WI
Michigan State University - East Lansing, MI
New York University - New York City, NY
Ohio State University - Columbus, OH
Pennsylvania State University - State College, PA
Purdue University - West Lafayette, IN
Rush University - Chicago, IL
Stony Brook University - Stony Brook, NY
Texas Woman's College - Denton, TX
University of Alabama at Birmingham - Birmingham, AL
University of Alabama in Huntsville - Huntsville, AL
University of Arizona - Tucson, AZ
University of California, Davis - Davis, CA
University of California, LA - Los Angeles, CA
University of California, San Francisco - San Francisco, CA
University of Central Florida - Orlando, FL
University of Cincinnati - Cincinnati, OH
University of Illinois at Chicago - Chicago, IL
University of Kansas, Kansas City - Kansas City, KS
University of Louisville - Louisville, KY
University of Maryland, Baltimore - Baltimore, MD
University of Massachusetts Boston - Boston, MA
University of Miami - Miami, FL
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor - Ann Arbor, MI
University of Missouri - Columbus, MO
University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill, NC
University of North Carolina, Greensboro - Greensboro, NC
University of Pennsylvania - Philadelphia, PA
University of Pittsburgh - Pittsburgh, PA
University of Rochester - Rochester, NY
University of San Diego - San Diego, CA
University of South Florida, Tampa - Tampa, FL
University of Texas at Arlington - Arlington, TX
University of Texas at Austin - Austin, TX
University of Utah, Salt Lake City - Salt Lake City, UT
University of Virginia - Charlottesville, VA
University of Washington - Seattle, WA
Vanderbilt University - Nashville, TN
Virginia Commonwealth University - Richmond, VA
Yale University - New Haven, CT
Value Colleges is an independent, online resource with one mission: to help prospective students find the best educational value in their chosen field. At Value Colleges, future students can find rankings for the top investments in online and residential college degrees, advice on making the best decisions about finances when in college, and explanations of commonly-misunderstood aspects of college costs.