2024 Best Value Natural Resources & Conservation Schools in Kentucky

It’s not easy to decide which college to attend when there so many options available for students. College Factual was founded, in part, to help students make the decision as to what would be the best school for them. Our “Best Value Natural Resources & Conservation Schools in Kentucky” ranking is part of that endeavor.

Natural Resources & Conservation is the 25th most popular major in the country with 30,503 degrees awarded in 2020-2021. In 2019-2020, natural resources & conservation graduates who were awarded their degree in 2017-2019, earned an average of $35,158 and had an average of $23,267 in loans still to pay off.

Across Kentucky, there were 149 natural resources & conservation graduates with average earnings and debt of $25,191 and $24,070 respectively.

For this year’s “Best Value Natural Resources & Conservation Schools in Kentucky” ranking, we looked at 2 colleges that offer a degree in natural resources & conservation. This ranking identifies schools with high-quality natural resources & conservation programs that also have a lower cost than schools of similar quality.

Some of the factors we look at when determining these rankings are overall quality of the natural resources & conservation program at the school and the cost of the school after aid is awarded among other things. Check out our ranking methodology for more information.

More Ways to Rank Natural Resources & Conservation Schools

Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we’ve developed a number of rankings, including this “Best Value Natural Resources & Conservation Schools in Kentucky” list, to help you choose the best school for you.

In addition to our rankings, you can take two colleges and compare them based on the criteria that matters most to you in our unique tool, College Combat. When you have some time, check it out - you may want to bookmark the link so you don’t forget it.

Best Value Natural Resources & Conservation Schools in Kentucky

The colleges and universities below are the best for kentucky natural resources & conservation students.

Top 2 Best Value Colleges for Natural Resources & Conservation in Kentucky

1

University of Kentucky
Lexington, Kentucky

#1 in overall quality

$18,203 Average Net Price

$43,675 Average Early-Career Earnings

Out of the 2 schools in the Best Value Natural Resources & Conservation Schools in Kentucky that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Kentucky landed the #1 spot on the list. This large school is located in Lexington, Kentucky, and it awarded 51 ’s natural resources & conservation degrees in 2020-2021.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at UK, the school also landed the #1 spot in our “Best Natural Resources & Conservation Schools in Kentucky” ranking. The yearly cost to attend University of Kentucky is $18,203 for Kentucky Natural Resources & Conservation students.

Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 86%. The low undergrad student loan default rate of 4.3% is a good sign that students have an easier time paying off their loans than they might at other schools. For comparison, the national default rate is 10.1%.

Read more about Natural Resources & Conservation at University of Kentucky

2

Murray State University
Murray, Kentucky

#2 in overall quality

$11,736 Average Net Price

$41,161 Average Early-Career Earnings

Out of the 2 schools in the Best Value Natural Resources & Conservation Schools in Kentucky that were part of this year’s ranking, Murray State University landed the #2 spot on the list. Murray State is a medium-sized school located in Murray, Kentucky that handed out 20 ’s natural resources & conservation degrees in 2020-2021.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at Murray State, the school also landed the #2 spot in our “Best Natural Resources & Conservation Schools in Kentucky” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for Murray State is $11,736 for Kentucky Natural Resources & Conservation students.

Read more about Natural Resources & Conservation at Murray State University

• Best Value Colleges for Natural Resources & Conservation in the Southeast Region
• Best Value Colleges for Natural Resources & Conservation

Notes and References

References

• The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of our data about colleges.
• Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
• Information about the national average student loan default rate is from the U.S. Department of Education and refers to data about the 2016 borrower cohort tracking period for which the cohort default rate (CDR) was 10.1%.

Read more about our data sources and methodologies

Footnotes

• *Average salary, average net price, and average tuition and fees are for the top schools only.
• Some schools otherwise deserving of recognition may have been removed from this ranking in the event that new data identified post-publication warranted it, or at the request of the school.

Credits

• Credit for the banner image above goes to Lynn Betts.