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

4 Ranked Colleges
270 Degrees Awarded
$22,600 Avg Net Price*
Best Value Journalism Schools for a Bachelor's in Iowa

Students have lots of options to chooose from today when trying to decide which college to attend. One of our goals at College Factual is to give you as much information as we can - such as our “Best Value Journalism Schools for a Bachelor’s in Iowa” ranking - to help you make that decision.

Journalism is the 62nd most popular major in the country with 14,528 degrees awarded in 2019-2020. In 2017-2018, journalism graduates who were awarded their degree in 2015-2017, earned an average of $31,042 and had an average of $24,628 in loans still to pay off.

Across Iowa, there were 331 journalism graduates with average earnings and debt of $34,175 and $20,697 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 270 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 analyzed 4 colleges that offered a degree in journalism. This ranking identifies schools with high-quality journalism 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 journalism 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.

One Size Does Not Fit All

The journalism 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 Journalism Schools for a Bachelor’s in Iowa”.

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. Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.

Best Value Journalism Schools for a Bachelor’s in Iowa

The following schools top our list of the Best Best Value Journalism Schools for a Bachelor’s in Iowa.

Top 4 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Journalism in Iowa

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Iowa State University. The school came in at #1 for the Best Value Journalism Schools for a Bachelor’s in Iowa. Ames, Iowa is the setting for this large institution of higher learning. The public school handed out bachelors’s journalism degrees to 77 students in 2019-2020.

Iowa State not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #3 on our “Best Journalism Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Iowa” list. The estimated yearly cost for Iowa State is $15,496 for iowa bachelor’s degree journalism students.

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 Journalism Report

#2

University of Iowa

Iowa City, Iowa

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of Iowa. It ranked #2 on our 2022 Best Value Journalism Schools for a Bachelor’s in Iowa list. Located in Iowa City, Iowa, this large public school handed out 146 diplomas to qualified bachelors’s journalism students in 2019-2020.

Iowa also took the #1 spot in our “Best Journalism Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Iowa” ranking. It costs about $19,145 for iowa bachelor’s degree journalism students per year to attend Iowa.

The low student loan default rate of 3.5% 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%. 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 Journalism at Iowa

#3

Saint Ambrose University

Davenport, Iowa
#4 in overall quality

Out of the 4 schools in the Best Value Journalism Schools for a Bachelor’s in Iowa that were part of this year’s ranking, Saint Ambrose University landed the #3 spot on the list. St. Ambrose University is located in Davenport, Iowa and, has a small student population. In 2019-2020, this school awarded 4 bachelors’s journalism degrees to qualified students.

St. Ambrose University also took the #4 spot in our “Best Journalism Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Iowa” ranking. It costs about $26,204 for iowa bachelor’s degree journalism students per year to attend St. Ambrose University.

Full St. Ambrose University Journalism Report

#4

Drake University

Des Moines, Iowa

Out of the 4 schools in the Best Value Journalism Schools for a Bachelor’s in Iowa that were part of this year’s ranking, Drake University landed the #4 spot on the list. Drake is a small school located in Des Moines, Iowa that handed out 31 bachelors’s journalism degrees in 2019-2020.

In addition to being on our iowa bachelor’s degree journalism students list, Drake has also earned the #2 rank in our “Best Journalism Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Iowa” ranking. It costs about $29,432 for iowa bachelor’s degree journalism students per year to attend Drake University.

Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 86%. The low student loan default rate of 2.2% 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%. Since the school has a student-to-faculty ratio of 10 to 1, those pursuing a degree will have more opportunities to interact with their professors.

Read full report on Journalism at Drake

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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