VAC · The value-for-money field
Value-Added & Cost
Each school plotted by the net price it charges a chosen family-income band (x) against its value-added score (y), colored by classification and control. Switch income bands, filter the field, then search the list to highlight a school's point.
How to use this toolFilters
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Value-Added vs. Cost
0 plotted · average net price across all income bands · click a dot to pin · scroll or +/− to zoom, drag to pan
How to use
Reading Value-Added & Cost
- 1
Read the axes
The horizontal axis is net price (what students actually pay) and the vertical axis is the value-added score. The lower-right is the sweet spot: high value added at low cost.
- 2
Switch the income band
The band selector changes the cost axis to the net price for a chosen family-income range. “Average” shows the overall average net price across all bands.
- 3
Filter the field
Narrow by classification, public/private, region, state, or US News rank. Choosing a region limits the state list to that region.
- 4
Highlight and pin schools
Search or hover a name in the list to flag its dot. Click a dot to pin it; click the pinned name to open its College Navigator page. Hover another dot to compare two at once.
- 5
Zoom in on a cluster
Scroll or use +/− to zoom and drag to pan; Reset returns to the full field.