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

1 Milwaukee School of Engineering · Milwaukee · private +$3.20M
2 University of Wisconsin-Platteville · Platteville · public +$2.86M
3 Herzing University-Madison · Madison · private +$2.43M
4 University of Wisconsin-Stout · Menomonie · public +$2.36M
5 University of Wisconsin-Madison · Madison · public +$2.30M
6 Viterbo University · La Crosse · private +$2.03M
7 University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire · Eau Claire · public +$1.91M
8 University of Wisconsin-Whitewater · Whitewater · public +$1.82M
9 University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh · Oshkosh · public +$1.74M
10 University of Wisconsin-La Crosse · La Crosse · public +$1.69M
11 University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee · Milwaukee · public +$1.61M
12 University of Wisconsin-Parkside · Kenosha · public +$1.51M
13 University of Wisconsin-River Falls · River Falls · public +$1.51M
14 Marquette University · Milwaukee · private +$1.44M
15 University of Wisconsin-Green Bay · Green Bay · public +$1.40M

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

For each school we run the /worth-it calculator with the home state set to Wisconsin — 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.