2022 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Urban & Regional Planning in the Plains States Region (With Aid)

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 Urban Planning Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Plains States Region For Those Getting Aid” ranking is part of that endeavor.

Urban & Regional Planning is the 170th most popular major in the country with 2,548 degrees awarded in 2019-2020. In 2017-2018, urban and regional planning graduates who were awarded their degree in 2015-2017, earned an average of $48,040 and had an average of $39,156 in loans still to pay off.

Across the Plains States region, there were 156 urban and regional planning graduates with average earnings and debt of $38,900 and $28,410 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 52 urban and regional planning graduates with average earnings and debt of $39,786 and $25,576 respectively.

This year’s “Best Value Urban Planning Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Plains States Region For Those Getting Aid” ranking looked at 2 colleges that offer degrees in a bachelor’s in urban and regional planning. The schools that top this list are recognized because they have great urban and regional planning programs and cost less that schools of similar quality.

When determining these rankings, we looked at things such as overall quality of the urban and regional planning program at the school and the cost to attend the school once aid has been awarded. For more information, check out our ranking methodology.

One Size Does Not Fit All

The urban planning school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we’ve developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of “Best Value Urban Planning Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Plains States Region For Those Getting Aid”.

To further help you make the college decision, we’ve developed a unique tool called College Combat that allows you to compare schools based on the factors that matter the most to you. When you have some time, check it out - you may want to bookmark the link so you don’t forget it.

Best Value Urban Planning Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Plains States Region For Those Getting Aid

The following schools top our list of the Best Best Value Urban Planning Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Plains States Region For Those Getting Aid.

Top 2 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Urban & Regional Planning in the Plains States Region (With Aid)

#1

Iowa State University

Ames, Iowa

#1 in overall quality

$15,496 Average Net Price

$40,821 Average Early-Career Earnings

Out of the 2 schools in the Best Value Urban Planning Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Plains States Region For Those Getting Aid that were part of this year’s ranking, Iowa State University landed the #1 spot on the list. Iowa State is a public institution located in Ames, Iowa. The school has a large population, and it awarded 26 bachelors’s degrees in 2019-2020.

Iowa State also took the #1 spot in our “Best Urban & Regional Planning Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Plains States Region” ranking. The yearly cost to attend Iowa State is $15,496 for plains states region bachelor’s degree urban planning students with aid.

The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 3.3%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. With a freshman retention rate of 89%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students.

Read more about Urban & Regional Planning at Iowa State University

#2

South Dakota State University

Brookings, South Dakota

#2 in overall quality

$19,252 Average Net Price

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend South Dakota State University. The school came in at #2 for the Best Value Urban Planning Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Plains States Region For Those Getting Aid. South Dakota State University is a fairly large school located in Brookings, South Dakota that handed out 1 bachelors’s urban planning degrees in 2019-2020.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at South Dakota State, the school also landed the #2 spot in our “Best Urban & Regional Planning Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Plains States Region” ranking. It costs about $19,252 for Plains States Region Bachelor’s Degree Urban Planning students with aid per year to attend South Dakota State.

The student loan default rate at the school is 3.8%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

Full South Dakota State Urban & Regional Planning Report

• Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Urban & Regional Planning (With Aid)

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 Arcaddmarketing.

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