2022 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Civil Engineering in Iowa

With all of the options students have for higher education today, it can be tough to choose which direction to take. One of our goals at College Factual is to give you as much information as we can - such as our “Best Value Civil Eng Schools for a Bachelor’s in Iowa” ranking - to help you make that decision.

Civil Engineering is the 45th most popular major in the country with 21,561 degrees awarded in 2019-2020. In 2017-2018, civil engineering graduates who were awarded their degree in 2015-2017, earned an average of $60,122 and had an average of $23,807 in loans still to pay off.

Across Iowa, there were 292 civil engineering graduates with average earnings and debt of $61,500 and $21,392 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 201 civil engineering graduates with average earnings and debt of $39,922 and $25,876 respectively.

This year’s “Best Value Civil Eng Schools for a Bachelor’s in Iowa” ranking looked at 3 colleges that offer degrees in a bachelor’s in civil engineering. Not only do the schools that top this list have excellent civil engineering programs, but they also 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 civil engineering program at the school. For more information, check out our ranking methodology.

More Ways to Rank Civil Engineering Schools

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 Civil Eng Schools for a Bachelor’s in Iowa” list to help you make the college decision.

We’ve created a tool called College Combat that lets you create your own customized comparisons 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 Civil Eng Schools for a Bachelor’s in Iowa

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

Top 3 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Civil Engineering in Iowa

#1

Iowa State University

Ames, Iowa

#1 in overall quality

$15,496 Average Net Price

$62,473 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Iowa State University. It ranked #1 on our 2022 Best Value Civil Eng Schools for a Bachelor’s in Iowa list. Iowa State University is a public institution located in Ames, Iowa. The school has a large population, and it awarded 143 bachelors’s degrees in 2019-2020.

Iowa State also took the #1 spot in our “Best Civil Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Iowa” ranking. It costs about $15,496 for Iowa Bachelor’s Degree Civil Eng students per year to attend Iowa State University.

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%.

Read full report on Civil Engineering at Iowa State University

#2

University of Iowa

Iowa City, Iowa

#2 in overall quality

$19,145 Average Net Price

$58,673 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of Iowa. The school came in at #2 for the Best Value Civil Eng Schools for a Bachelor’s in Iowa. Iowa is located in Iowa City, Iowa and, has a large student population. In 2019-2020, this school awarded 53 bachelors’s civil eng degrees to qualified students.

Iowa also took the #2 spot in our “Best Civil Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Iowa” ranking. It costs about $19,145 for iowa bachelor’s degree civil eng students per year to attend University of Iowa.

Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 88%. The student loan default rate at the school is 3.5%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

Read more about Civil Engineering at University of Iowa

#3

Dordt University

Sioux Center, Iowa

#3 in overall quality

$25,102 Average Net Price

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Dordt University. It ranked #3 on our 2022 Best Value Civil Eng Schools for a Bachelor’s in Iowa list. This small school is located in Sioux Center, Iowa, and it awarded 5 bachelors’s civil eng degrees in 2019-2020.

Dordt not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #3 on our “Best Civil Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Iowa” list. The estimated yearly cost for Dordt University is $25,102 for Iowa Bachelor’s Degree Civil Eng students.

The student loan default rate at the school is 1.8%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

Full Dordt Civil Engineering Report

• Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Civil Engineering in the Plains States Region
• Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Civil Engineering

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 Master Sgt. Roger Parsons.

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