2022 Best Value Journalism Schools for a Bachelor’s in Iowa

When it comes to choosing a college, students have a lot of options - but not all of them are good. 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 Journalism Schools for a Bachelor’s in Iowa” ranking is part of that endeavor.

In 2019-2020, 12,336 people earned their degree in general journalism, making the major the 58th most popular in the United States.

Across Iowa, there were 294 general journalism graduates with average earnings and debt of $0 and $0 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 233 general journalism graduates with average earnings and debt of $39,922 and $25,876 respectively.

This year’s “Best Value Journalism Schools for a Bachelor’s in Iowa” ranking looked at 3 colleges that offer degrees in a bachelor’s in general journalism. The schools that top this list are recognized because they have great general journalism programs and cost less that schools of similar quality.

To come up with these rankings, we looked at factors such as the cost to attend the school after aid is awarded and overall quality of the general journalism program at the school. See our ranking methodology to learn more.

More Ways to Rank General Journalism 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 Journalism Schools for a Bachelor’s in Iowa” list, to help you choose the best school for you.

One of our other unique offerings is College Combat. This tool lets you build your own customized comparisons utilizing the factors that are most important 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 Journalism Schools for a Bachelor’s in Iowa

The colleges and universities below are the best for iowa bachelor’s degree journalism students.

Top 3 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for General Journalism in Iowa

#1

Iowa State University

Ames, Iowa

#2 in overall quality

$15,496 Average Net Price

Out of the 3 schools in the Best Value Journalism Schools for a Bachelor’s in Iowa that were part of this year’s ranking, Iowa State University landed the #1 spot on the list. This large school is located in Ames, Iowa, and it awarded 77 bachelors’s journalism degrees in 2019-2020.

In addition to being on our iowa bachelor’s degree journalism students list, Iowa State has also earned the #2 rank in our “Best General Journalism Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Iowa” ranking. It costs about $15,496 for iowa bachelor’s degree journalism students per year to attend Iowa State.

The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 89%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year. The low student loan default rate of 3.3% 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%.

Full Iowa State University General Journalism Report

#2

University of Iowa

Iowa City, Iowa

#1 in overall quality

$19,145 Average Net Price

Out of the 3 schools in the Best Value Journalism Schools for a Bachelor’s in Iowa that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Iowa landed the #2 spot on the list. University of Iowa is a large public school situated in Iowa City, Iowa. It awarded 146 bachelors’s journalism degrees in 2019-2020.

Iowa also made our “Best General Journalism Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Iowa” list, coming in at #1. The estimated yearly cost for University of Iowa is $19,145 for Iowa Bachelor’s Degree Journalism 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. The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 3.5%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.

Full University of Iowa General Journalism Report

#3

Saint Ambrose University

Davenport, Iowa

#3 in overall quality

$26,204 Average Net Price

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Saint Ambrose University. It ranked #3 on our 2022 Best Value Journalism Schools for a Bachelor’s in Iowa list. Located in Davenport, Iowa, this small private not-for-profit school handed out 4 diplomas to qualified bachelors’s journalism students in 2019-2020.

St. Ambrose University also took the #3 spot in our “Best General Journalism Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Iowa” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for St. Ambrose University is $26,204 for iowa bachelor’s degree journalism students.

Full St. Ambrose University General Journalism Report

• Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for General Journalism in the Plains States Region
• Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for General Journalism

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 Jfurrer.

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