FREOPP 2021 earnings · IPEDS 2023 cost · BEA 2023 cost-of-living · Kansas four-year schools, resident pricing · real-earnings-coverage only · every school shown is NPV-positive.

1 Baker University · Baldwin City · private +$2.04M
2 Kansas State University · Manhattan · public +$1.97M
3 MidAmerica Nazarene University · Olathe · private +$1.89M
4 Friends University · Wichita · private +$1.89M
5 University of Saint Mary · Leavenworth · private +$1.88M
6 University of Kansas · Lawrence · public +$1.83M
7 Washburn University · Topeka · public +$1.78M
8 Pittsburg State University · Pittsburg · public +$1.69M
9 Southwestern College · Winfield · private +$1.66M
10 Fort Hays State University · Hays · public +$1.66M
11 Wichita State University · Wichita · public +$1.49M
12 Central Christian College of Kansas · McPherson · private +$1.44M
13 Emporia State University · Emporia · public +$1.07M
14 Bethel College-North Newton · North Newton · private +$824K
15 Tabor College · Hillsboro · private +$667K

How this is computed (and what it isn’t)

For each school we run the /worth-it calculator with the home state set to Kansas — resident tuition, plus foregone wages, capitalized loan interest, and BEA cost-of-living on the skip-college path. The ranking is the 30-year projected net value of going vs. skipping and investing the difference. It ranks schools, not majors — and the major you pick swings that payoff by over a million dollars on its own.

What it isn’t: a list of “good schools.” It’s a list of good trades at resident pricing. Schools without real FREOPP earnings coverage are excluded rather than estimated; institutions whose earnings roll up from fewer than 3 reported programs are excluded as too thin to rank; schools verified closed since the IPEDS 2023-24 vintage are excluded by hand. Only NPV-positive schools are listed — the point is where the value is, not naming losers.