2022 Best Value Urban Planning Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Great Lakes Region

With all of the options students have for higher education today, it can be tough to choose which direction to take. One of our goals at College Factual is to give you as much information as we can - such as our “Best Value Urban Planning Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Great Lakes Region” ranking - to help you make that decision.

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 Great Lakes region, there were 208 urban and regional planning graduates with average earnings and debt of $44,300 and $34,140 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 105 urban and regional planning graduates with average earnings and debt of $39,075 and $25,381 respectively.

For this year’s “Best Value Urban Planning Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Great Lakes Region” ranking, we looked at 4 colleges that offer a degree in urban and regional planning. This ranking identifies schools with high-quality urban and regional planning programs that also have a lower cost than 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. Check out our ranking methodology for more information.

More Ways to Rank Urban & Regional Planning 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 Urban Planning Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Great Lakes Region” list, to help you choose the best school for you.

In addition to College Factual’s rankings, you may want to take a look at College Combat, our unique tool that lets you pit your favorite schools head-to-head and compare how they rate on factors that most interest you. Test it out by comparing your favorite schools against others you are considering, or bookmark the tool so you can experiment with it later.

Best Value Urban Planning Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Great Lakes Region

The following schools top our list of the Best Best Value Urban Planning Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Great Lakes Region.

Top 4 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Urban & Regional Planning in the Great Lakes Region

#1

University of Cincinnati - Main Campus

Cincinnati, Ohio

#3 in overall quality

$21,843 Average Net Price

$45,221 Average Early-Career Earnings

Out of the 4 schools in the Best Value Urban Planning Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Great Lakes Region that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Cincinnati - Main Campus landed the #1 spot on the list. UC is a large school located in Cincinnati, Ohio that handed out 21 bachelors’s urban planning degrees in 2019-2020.

UC not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #3 on our “Best Urban & Regional Planning Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region” list. The estimated yearly cost for UC is $21,843 for Great Lakes Region Bachelor’s Degree Urban Planning students.

The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 88%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.

Read full report on Urban & Regional Planning at UC

#2

Ball State University

Muncie, Indiana

#4 in overall quality

$15,147 Average Net Price

$43,798 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Ball State University. It ranked #2 on our 2022 Best Value Urban Planning Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Great Lakes Region list. Ball State University is located in Muncie, Indiana and, has a large student population. In 2019-2020, this school awarded 5 bachelors’s urban planning degrees to qualified students.

Ball State did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #4 on our “Best Urban & Regional Planning Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region” list. The yearly cost to attend Ball State University is $15,147 for great lakes region bachelor’s degree urban planning students.

Read full report on Urban & Regional Planning at Ball State University

#3

Ohio State University - Main Campus

Columbus, Ohio

#1 in overall quality

$17,616 Average Net Price

$43,798 Average Early-Career Earnings

Out of the 4 schools in the Best Value Urban Planning Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Great Lakes Region that were part of this year’s ranking, Ohio State University - Main Campus landed the #3 spot on the list. Located in Columbus, Ohio, this large public school awarded 46 degrees to qualified bachelors’s urban planning students in 2019-2020.

Ohio State also took the #1 spot in our “Best Urban & Regional Planning Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region” ranking. It costs about $17,616 for great lakes region bachelor’s degree urban planning students per year to attend Ohio State.

The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 4.4%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 94%.

Read more about Urban & Regional Planning at Ohio State

#4

Miami University - Oxford

Oxford, Ohio

#2 in overall quality

$24,323 Average Net Price

$47,260 Average Early-Career Earnings

Out of the 4 schools in the Best Value Urban Planning Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Great Lakes Region that were part of this year’s ranking, Miami University - Oxford landed the #4 spot on the list. Miami University - Oxford is a public institution located in Oxford, Ohio. The school has a fairly large population, and it awarded 25 bachelors’s degrees in 2019-2020.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at Miami University - Oxford, the school also landed the #2 spot in our “Best Urban & Regional Planning Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region” ranking. It costs about $24,323 for Great Lakes Region Bachelor’s Degree Urban Planning students per year to attend Miami University - Oxford.

The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 88%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.

Full Miami University - Oxford Urban & Regional Planning Report

• Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Urban & Regional Planning

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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