2024 Best Value Education Schools in Virginia
9
Ranked Colleges
918
Degrees Awarded
$22,700
Avg Net Price*
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 Education Schools in Virginia” ranking is part of that endeavor.
General Education is the 41st most popular major in the country with 29,810 degrees awarded in 2020-2021. In 2019-2020, general education graduates who were awarded their degree in 2017-2019, earned an average of $48,719 and had an average of $23,394 in loans still to pay off.
Across Virginia, there were 918 general education graduates with average earnings and debt of $52,474 and $25,866 respectively.
For this year’s “Best Value Education Schools in Virginia” ranking, we looked at 9 colleges that offer a degree in general education. Not only do the schools that top this list have excellent general education programs, but they also cost less that schools of similar quality.
When determining these rankings, we looked at things such as overall quality of the general education 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 General Education 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 Education Schools in Virginia” list, to help you choose the best school for you.
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. Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.
Best Value Education Schools in Virginia
The colleges and universities below are the best for virginia education students.
Top 9 Best Value Colleges for General Education in Virginia
You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend James Madison University. It ranked #1 on our 2024 Best Value Education Schools in Virginia list. JMU is a large public school situated in Harrisonburg, Virginia. It awarded 295 ’s education degrees in 2020-2021.
JMU also made our “Best General Education Schools in Virginia” list, coming in at #2. It costs about $22,562 for Virginia Education students per year to attend James Madison University.
The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 2.0%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 91%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.
Read more about General Education at James Madison University
Out of the 9 schools in the Best Value Education Schools in Virginia that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Virginia - Main Campus landed the #2 spot on the list. Located in Charlottesville, Virginia, this large public school handed out 159 degrees to qualified ’s education students in 2020-2021.
University of Virginia did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #1 on our “Best General Education Schools in Virginia” list. The estimated yearly cost for University of Virginia is $22,006 for virginia education students.
The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is 0.7%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%. With a freshman retention rate of 97%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its undergraduate students.
Read more about General Education at University of Virginia
You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Virginia Commonwealth University. It ranked #3 on our 2024 Best Value Education Schools in Virginia list. VCU is a public institution located in Richmond, Virginia. The school has a large population, and it awarded 116 ’s degrees in 2020-2021.
VCU also made our “Best General Education Schools in Virginia” list, coming in at #3. The estimated yearly cost for Virginia Commonwealth University is $20,490 for Virginia Education students.
The low undergrad student loan default rate of 2.6% 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%.
Read full report on General Education at VCU
Out of the 9 schools in the Best Value Education Schools in Virginia that were part of this year’s ranking, Liberty University landed the #4 spot on the list. Liberty University is a private not-for-profit institution located in Lynchburg, Virginia. The school has a large population, and it awarded 93 ’s degrees in 2020-2021.
Liberty University also took the #5 spot in our “Best General Education Schools in Virginia” ranking. The yearly cost to attend Liberty University is $29,382 for Virginia Education students.
Full Liberty University General Education Report
You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Longwood University. The school came in at #5 for the Best Value Education Schools in Virginia. Longwood University is a small public school situated in Farmville, Virginia. It awarded 75 ’s education degrees in 2020-2021.
Longwood also took the #6 spot in our “Best General Education Schools in Virginia” ranking. It costs about $19,545 for virginia education students per year to attend Longwood.
The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 3.2%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.
Read more about General Education at Longwood
George Mason University landed the #6 spot on the 2024 Best Value Education Schools in Virginia ranking. Located in Fairfax, Virginia, this large public school awarded 27 degrees to qualified ’s education students in 2020-2021.
In addition to being on our virginia education students list, GMU has also earned the #4 rank in our “Best General Education Schools in Virginia” ranking. The yearly cost to attend George Mason University is $19,551 for virginia education students.
The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is 2.5%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.
Read full report on General Education at GMU
University of Mary Washington did quite well in the 2024 Best Value Education Schools in Virginia ranking, coming in at #7. UMW is a small public school situated in Fredericksburg, Virginia. It awarded 75 ’s education degrees in 2020-2021.
UMW also made our “Best General Education Schools in Virginia” list, coming in at #8. It costs about $23,193 for Virginia Education students per year to attend UMW.
The low undergrad student loan default rate of 2.7% 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 University of Mary Washington General Education Report
Radford University landed the #8 spot on the 2024 Best Value Education Schools in Virginia ranking. Radford is a medium-sized public school situated in Radford, Virginia. It awarded 38 ’s education degrees in 2020-2021.
Radford also made our “Best General Education Schools in Virginia” list, coming in at #9. The estimated yearly cost for Radford is $16,505 for Virginia Education students.
Full Radford General Education Report
Shenandoah University landed the #9 spot on the 2024 Best Value Education Schools in Virginia ranking. Shenandoah University is a small private not-for-profit school situated in Winchester, Virginia. It awarded 24 ’s education degrees in 2020-2021.
Shenandoah did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #7 on our “Best General Education Schools in Virginia” list. The yearly cost to attend Shenandoah is $30,878 for Virginia Education students.
The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 3.6%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.
Full Shenandoah University General Education Report
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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
- *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 KOKUYO.
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