Money | college Colleges That Pay Off These schools offer a good return on investment By John Johnson Posted Jul 3, 2010 7:00 PM CDT Copied M.I.T. tops the list of colleges that offer the best return on investment. (Shutterstock) Which colleges pay off? PayScale crunched the numbers to compute the best returns on investment—by comparing the cost of a degree against what its students earn upon graduation—and Huffington Post rounds up the best of the bunch: Massachusetts Institute of Technology: annual ROI: 12.6%; 30-year ROI: $1.69 million California Institute of Technology: 12.6%; $1.64 million Harvard: 12.5%; $1.63 million Harvey Mudd College: 12.5%; $1.63 million Dartmouth: 12.4%; $1.59 million Stanford: 12.3%; $1.57 million Princeton: 12.3%; $1.52 million Yale: 11.9%; $1.39 million Notre Dame: 12.2%; $1.38 million University of Pennsylvania: 11.8%; $1.36 million See the Huffington Post slideshow here and PayScale's complete rankings here. Read These Next Police chief releases details in Annunciation Church shooting. Minneapolis shooter had a plan—and grievances. Disturbing details are emerging about the Minneapolis shooter. Jay Cutler can't avoid jail in DUI case. Report an error