2026 Best Value General Bachelor’s Degree Schools
[General](/majors/engineering/energy-systems-engineering/general/) degree programs vary widely in price and payoff across the country. The schools below stand out for delivering a strong general education at a price that pays off.
To produce this 2026 ranking, College Factual evaluated 26 schools on the balance of cost and outcomes for general students.
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2026 Best Value General Schools in the United States
Below are the schools that deliver the strongest value in general, balancing cost against outcomes.
Best Value General Schools
For return on investment in general, no school beat Oregon Institute Of Technology this year. Located in the town of Klamath Falls, Oregon Institute Of Technology is a moderately-sized public university. Students from in state pay about $13,260 in tuition and fees, while out-of-state students pay about $37,196. Typical student debt for general graduates is $27,551. General graduates of Oregon Institute Of Technology earn a median of $63,715 early in their careers. That is a strong return on a $27,551 median debt. Roughly 95% of applicants are accepted.
Other General Degree Levels
Looking for a different degree level? Compare best-value General rankings across degree levels:
Notes and References
This ranking is produced by College Factual (MF_RANKING_2025), 2026 edition. Schools are scored on the balance of cost (tuition and student debt) against student outcomes (post-graduation earnings) — a measure of return on investment, drawn primarily from the U.S. Department of Education (IPEDS and College Scorecard).
Ranking method: College Major Best Value · 26 schools evaluated.
*Averages shown above reflect the top 3 ranked schools only.
- The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE), serves as the core of our data about colleges.
- Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
More about our data sources and methodologies.
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