SOCORRO, N.M. – CNBC released its list of “Top 50 Colleges That Pay Off the Most” this week, with New Mexico Tech showing up at No. 13 among public schools. The broadcaster devised a methodology that basically evaluates universities for their students’ return-on-investment.

The site says, “CNBC Make It set out to capture the information students would need to balance these considerations. The result is our first list of the U.S. colleges that pay off the most, a ranking that spotlights 50 schools that provide students the highest average salaries for their tuition dollars.”

The website describes NMT as “a public university that offers associate’s, bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees primarily in science and engineering. NMT is … known for its chemical engineering, mechanical engineering and computer science programs.”

Using their specific methodology, CNBC published these statistics for NMT:

• Average net cost (income $48,001-$75,000): $13,756
• Median salary for alumni with 0-5 years of experience: $62,500
• Median salary for alumni with 10+ years of experience: $121,500
• Salary average, early and mid-career: $92,000

Two University of Washington campuses topped the list of public schools. Other public schools in the top 25 include the No. 4 University of Michigan, No. 6 Purdue, NMT’s peer institutions Georgia Tech (No. 5), Michigan Tech (No. 8), Missouri  Tech (No. 14), and Montana Tech (No. 16), and seven campuses of the University of California, just to name a few. 

To see the full article and all 50 colleges, click here.

The top 25 private schools are dominated by Ivy League schools and elite national universities, such as Stanford, Duke and M.I.T.

CNBC identified the true net cost of each college for the typical American student – including tuition, fees, books, supplies and other expenses – and then subtracted scholarships and grants. Using data from Tuition Tracker, a tool created by education-focused nonprofit news organization The Hechinger Report, the study then looked at the net cost for students from families making between $48,001 and $75,000, an income range established by the Department of Education.

The study used earnings data from PayScale’s College Salary Report, dividing net cost by graduates’ expected annual earnings, which was calculated based on the median salary of graduates with less than five years of experience as well as those with 10 or more years of experience. The ranking gives greater weight to workers’ earnings in the years immediately after college, when individuals are the most impacted by college costs and student debt 

– NMT –