Where you go to college can also affect your salary for years to come.

CBS News reports.

The 10 best colleges for your money

Choosing a college is one of the most important financial decisions families ever have to face. Not only does it represent a huge up-front expense — one year at an “affordable” public university can easily set you back $20,000 a year — but where you go to college can also affect your salary for years to come.

To help families make smart choices, MONEY’s annual college rankings examine dozens of data points to measure the costs and payoffs of thousands of schools. Colleges are judged on how much families really pay after financial aid, how many students go on to graduate, and how well those graduates fare in the workplace according to salary data collected by PayScale.com.