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2022 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Aerospace & Aeronautical Engineering in the Great Lakes Region

11 Ranked Colleges
742 Degrees Awarded
$21,100 Avg Net Price*
Best Value Aerospace Engineering Schools for a Bachelor's in the Great Lakes Region

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 Aerospace Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Great Lakes Region” ranking - to help you make that decision.

Aerospace & Aeronautical Engineering is the 101st most popular major in the country with 7,582 degrees awarded in 2019-2020. In 2017-2018, aerospace and aeronautical engineering graduates who were awarded their degree in 2015-2017, earned an average of $65,466 and had an average of $23,943 in loans still to pay off.

Across the Great Lakes region, there were 1,163 aerospace and aeronautical engineering graduates with average earnings and debt of $66,775 and $24,680 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 742 aerospace and aeronautical engineering graduates with average earnings and debt of $39,075 and $25,381 respectively.

For this year’s “Best Value Aerospace Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Great Lakes Region” ranking, we looked at 11 colleges that offer a degree in aerospace and aeronautical engineering. Not only do the schools that top this list have excellent aerospace and aeronautical engineering 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 aerospace and aeronautical engineering 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

Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we’ve developed the “Best Value Aerospace Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Great Lakes Region” ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.

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

Best Value Aerospace Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Great Lakes Region

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

Top 11 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Aerospace & Aeronautical Engineering in the Great Lakes Region

#1

Purdue University - Main Campus

West Lafayette, Indiana

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Purdue University - Main Campus. The school came in at #1 for the Best Value Aerospace Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Great Lakes Region. Purdue University - Main Campus is a large public school situated in West Lafayette, Indiana. It awarded 252 bachelors’s aerospace engineering degrees in 2019-2020.

Purdue did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #3 on our “Best Aerospace & Aeronautical Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region” list. The yearly cost to attend Purdue is $13,986 for great lakes region bachelor’s degree aerospace engineering students.

Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 93%. 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%.

Full Purdue University - Main Campus Aerospace & Aeronautical Engineering Report

#2

Western Michigan University

Kalamazoo, Michigan

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Western Michigan University. It ranked #2 on our 2022 Best Value Aerospace Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Great Lakes Region list. WMU is a fairly large school located in Kalamazoo, Michigan that handed out 48 bachelors’s aerospace engineering degrees in 2019-2020.

WMU also took the #9 spot in our “Best Aerospace & Aeronautical Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region” ranking. The yearly cost to attend Western Michigan University is $19,433 for great lakes region bachelor’s degree aerospace engineering students.

Read more about Aerospace & Aeronautical Engineering at WMU

Out of the 11 schools in the Best Value Aerospace Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Great Lakes Region that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Akron Main Campus landed the #3 spot on the list. This fairly large school is located in Akron, Ohio, and it awarded 20 bachelors’s aerospace engineering degrees in 2019-2020.

In addition to being on our great lakes region bachelor’s degree aerospace engineering students list, University of Akron Main Campus has also earned the #10 rank in our “Best Aerospace & Aeronautical Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region” ranking. It costs about $17,792 for great lakes region bachelor’s degree aerospace engineering students per year to attend University of Akron Main Campus.

Read more about Aerospace & Aeronautical Engineering at University of Akron Main Campus

Out of the 11 schools in the Best Value Aerospace Engineering 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 #4 spot on the list. University of Cincinnati - Main Campus is located in Cincinnati, Ohio and, has a large student population. In 2019-2020, this school awarded 48 bachelors’s aerospace engineering degrees to qualified students.

UC did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #8 on our “Best Aerospace & Aeronautical Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region” list. The yearly cost to attend UC is $21,843 for Great Lakes Region Bachelor’s Degree Aerospace Engineering students.

With a freshman retention rate of 88%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students.

Read full report on Aerospace & Aeronautical Engineering at University of Cincinnati - Main Campus

#11 in overall quality

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Kent State University at Kent. It ranked #5 on our 2022 Best Value Aerospace Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Great Lakes Region list. Kent, Ohio is the setting for this large institution of higher learning. The public school handed out bachelors’s aerospace engineering degrees to 12 students in 2019-2020.

Kent State also took the #11 spot in our “Best Aerospace & Aeronautical Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region” ranking. The yearly cost to attend Kent State University at Kent is $18,885 for great lakes region bachelor’s degree aerospace engineering students.

Read more about Aerospace & Aeronautical Engineering at Kent State University at Kent

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign did quite well in the 2022 Best Value Aerospace Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Great Lakes Region ranking, coming in at #6. UIUC is located in Champaign, Illinois and, has a large student population. In 2019-2020, this school awarded 95 bachelors’s aerospace engineering degrees to qualified students.

UIUC also took the #4 spot in our “Best Aerospace & Aeronautical Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for UIUC is $15,880 for great lakes region bachelor’s degree aerospace engineering students.

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 low student loan default rate of 2.4% 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 Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Aerospace & Aeronautical Engineering Report

With a ranking of #7, Ohio State University - Main Campus did quite well on the 2022 Best Value Aerospace Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Great Lakes Region list. Ohio State University - Main Campus is a large public school situated in Columbus, Ohio. It awarded 69 bachelors’s aerospace engineering degrees in 2019-2020.

Ohio State also took the #6 spot in our “Best Aerospace & Aeronautical Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region” ranking. It costs about $17,616 for Great Lakes Region Bachelor’s Degree Aerospace Engineering students per year to attend Ohio State University - Main Campus.

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 full report on Aerospace & Aeronautical Engineering at Ohio State

With a ranking of #8, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor did quite well on the 2022 Best Value Aerospace Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Great Lakes Region list. Ann Arbor, Michigan is the setting for this large institution of higher learning. The public school handed out bachelors’s aerospace engineering degrees to 132 students in 2019-2020.

In addition to being on our great lakes region bachelor’s degree aerospace engineering students list, U-M has also earned the #1 rank in our “Best Aerospace & Aeronautical Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region” ranking. The yearly cost to attend University of Michigan - Ann Arbor is $15,336 for Great Lakes Region Bachelor’s Degree Aerospace Engineering students.

The student loan default rate at the school is 1.2%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%. With a freshman retention rate of 96%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students.

Read full report on Aerospace & Aeronautical Engineering at University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

#7 in overall quality

Illinois Institute of Technology did quite well in the 2022 Best Value Aerospace Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Great Lakes Region ranking, coming in at #9. Illinois Institute of Technology is located in Chicago, Illinois and, has a medium-sized student population. In 2019-2020, this school awarded 26 bachelors’s aerospace engineering degrees to qualified students.

Illinois Tech also made our “Best Aerospace & Aeronautical Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region” list, coming in at #7. The estimated yearly cost for Illinois Institute of Technology is $22,831 for great lakes region bachelor’s degree aerospace engineering students.

Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 87%. The impressive student-to-faculty ratio of 10 to 1 means that students may have more opportunities to work more closely with their professors than they would at other schools. The student loan default rate at the school is 2.9%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

Full Illinois Tech Aerospace & Aeronautical Engineering Report

Case Western Reserve University landed the #10 spot on the 2022 Best Value Aerospace Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Great Lakes Region ranking. Case Western is a private not-for-profit institution located in Cleveland, Ohio. The school has a fairly large population, and it awarded 18 bachelors’s degrees in 2019-2020.

Case Western not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #5 on our “Best Aerospace & Aeronautical Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region” list. The estimated yearly cost for Case Western Reserve University is $35,428 for great lakes region bachelor’s degree aerospace engineering students.

With a freshman retention rate of 93%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students. 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 Aerospace & Aeronautical Engineering at Case Western Reserve University

#11

University of Notre Dame

Notre Dame, Indiana

With a ranking of #11, University of Notre Dame did quite well on the 2022 Best Value Aerospace Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Great Lakes Region list. University of Notre Dame is located in Notre Dame, Indiana and, has a fairly large student population. In 2019-2020, this school awarded 22 bachelors’s aerospace engineering degrees to qualified students.

Notre Dame also made our “Best Aerospace & Aeronautical Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region” list, coming in at #2. The estimated yearly cost for University of Notre Dame is $33,025 for great lakes region bachelor’s degree aerospace engineering students.

With a student-to-faculty ratio of 9 to 1, it’s easy to see that the school is committed to helping their undergraduates succeed. The 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 students.

Full University of Notre Dame Aerospace & Aeronautical Engineering 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

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 Ian3055.

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