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2022 Best Value Ecology Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Plains States Region

6 Ranked Colleges
192 Degrees Awarded
$17,600 Avg Net Price*
Best Value Ecology Schools for a Bachelor's in the Plains States Region

It’s not easy to decide which college to attend when there so many options available for students. College Factual has developed its “Best Value Ecology Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Plains States Region” ranking as one item you can use to help make this decision.

Ecology is the 384th most popular major in the country with 1,130 degrees awarded in 2019-2020.

Across the Plains States region, there were 198 ecology graduates with average earnings and debt of $0 and $0 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 192 ecology graduates with average earnings and debt of $39,786 and $25,576 respectively.

This year’s “Best Value Ecology Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Plains States Region” ranking looked at 6 colleges that offer degrees in a bachelor’s in ecology. Not only do the schools that top this list have excellent ecology programs, but they also cost less that schools of similar quality.

Some of the factors we look at when determining these rankings are overall quality of the ecology program at the school and the cost of the school after aid is awarded among other things. For more information, check out our ranking methodology.

One Size Does Not Fit All

When choosing the right school for you, it’s important to arm yourself with all the facts you can. To that end, we’ve created a number of major-specific rankings, including this “Best Value Ecology Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Plains States Region” list to help you make the college decision.

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. We encourage you to try it out and pit your favorite colleges and universities head to head! If you don’t have time right now, you can bookmark it for later.

Best Value Ecology Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Plains States Region

The colleges and universities below are the best for plains states region bachelor’s degree ecology students.

Top 6 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Ecology in the Plains States Region

#1

Northern State University

Aberdeen, South Dakota
#5 in overall quality

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Northern State University. The school came in at #1 for the Best Value Ecology Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Plains States Region. Northern State University is a small school located in Aberdeen, South Dakota that handed out 8 bachelors’s ecology degrees in 2019-2020.

NSU did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #5 on our “Best Ecology Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Plains States Region” list. It costs about $15,851 for plains states region bachelor’s degree ecology students per year to attend Northern State University.

Read full report on Ecology at NSU

#2

University of Northern Iowa

Cedar Falls, Iowa
#4 in overall quality

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of Northern Iowa. The school came in at #2 for the Best Value Ecology Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Plains States Region. This medium-sized school is located in Cedar Falls, Iowa, and it awarded 9 bachelors’s ecology degrees in 2019-2020.

UNI did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #4 on our “Best Ecology Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Plains States Region” list. The yearly cost to attend UNI is $15,620 for Plains States Region Bachelor’s Degree Ecology students.

The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 3.6%, 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 86%.

Read full report on Ecology at UNI

#3

Saint Cloud State University

Saint Cloud, Minnesota
#6 in overall quality

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Saint Cloud State University. The school came in at #3 for the Best Value Ecology Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Plains States Region. This fairly large school is located in Saint Cloud, Minnesota, and it awarded 28 bachelors’s ecology degrees in 2019-2020.

In addition to being on our plains states region bachelor’s degree ecology students list, St. Cloud State University has also earned the #6 rank in our “Best Ecology Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Plains States Region” ranking. The yearly cost to attend St. Cloud State University is $14,267 for Plains States Region Bachelor’s Degree Ecology students.

Read full report on Ecology at St. Cloud State University

#3 in overall quality

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Iowa State University. It ranked #4 on our 2022 Best Value Ecology Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Plains States Region list. Located in Ames, Iowa, this large public school awarded 106 diplomas to qualified bachelors’s ecology students in 2019-2020.

Iowa State also took the #3 spot in our “Best Ecology 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 Ecology students.

With a freshman retention rate of 89%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students. The student loan default rate at the school is 3.3%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

Read more about Ecology at Iowa State

#5

University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

Minneapolis, Minnesota
#2 in overall quality

Out of the 6 schools in the Best Value Ecology Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Plains States Region that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities landed the #5 spot on the list. Minneapolis, Minnesota is the setting for this large institution of higher learning. The public school handed out bachelors’s ecology degrees to 34 students in 2019-2020.

UMN Twin Cities also took the #2 spot in our “Best Ecology Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Plains States Region” ranking. The yearly cost to attend University of Minnesota - Twin Cities is $17,740 for Plains States Region Bachelor’s Degree Ecology students.

The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 93%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year. The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 2.2%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.

Read full report on Ecology at University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

#6

Washington University in St Louis

Saint Louis, Missouri
#1 in overall quality

Washington University in St Louis came in at #6 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Ecology Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Plains States Region ranking. Washington University in St Louis is a private not-for-profit institution located in Saint Louis, Missouri. The school has a fairly large population, and it awarded 2 bachelors’s degrees in 2019-2020.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at WUSTL, the school also landed the #1 spot in our “Best Ecology Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Plains States Region” ranking. The yearly cost to attend Washington University in St Louis is $26,869 for Plains States Region Bachelor’s Degree Ecology students.

Since the school has a student-to-faculty ratio of 7 to 1, those pursuing a degree will have more opportunities to interact with their professors. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 94%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year. The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 1.4%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.

Read full report on Ecology at Washington University in St Louis

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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.

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