2023 Best Value Colleges for Optical Enginering (Income $75-$110k) in the Great Lakes Region

It’s not easy to decide which college to attend when there so many options available for students. Our mission at College Factual is to arm you with as much information as we can to help you make that decision. Our “Best Value Optical Enginering Schools in the Great Lakes Region For Those Making $75-$110k” ranking is one tool we have developed to help in this regard.

Optical Enginering is the 923rd most popular major in the country with 121 degrees awarded in 2020-2021.

Across the Great Lakes region, there were 18 optical enginering graduates with average earnings and debt of $0 and $0 respectively.

This year’s “Best Value Optical Enginering Schools in the Great Lakes Region For Those Making $75-$110k” ranking looked at 2 colleges that offer degrees in a bachelor’s in optical enginering. The schools that top this list are recognized because they have great optical enginering programs and cost less that schools of similar quality.

Some of the factors we look at when determining these rankings are overall quality of the optical enginering program at the school and the cost of the school after aid is awarded among other things. See our ranking methodology to learn more.

One Size Does Not Fit All

The optical enginering 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 Optical Enginering Schools in the Great Lakes Region For Those Making $75-$110k”.

In addition to our rankings, you can take two colleges and compare them based on the criteria that matters most to you in our unique tool, College Combat. Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.

Best Value Optical Enginering Schools in the Great Lakes Region For Those Making $75-$110k

The following schools top our list of the Best Best Value Optical Enginering Schools in the Great Lakes Region For Those Making $75-$110k.

Top 2 Best Value Colleges for Optical Enginering (Income $75-$110k) in the Great Lakes Region

1

University of Dayton
Dayton, Ohio

#2 in overall quality

$28,897 Average Net Price

$51,595 Average Early-Career Earnings

Out of the 2 schools in the Best Value Optical Enginering Schools in the Great Lakes Region For Those Making $75-$110k that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Dayton landed the #1 spot on the list. This fairly large school is located in Dayton, Ohio, and it awarded 9 ’s optical enginering degrees in 2020-2021.

In addition to being on our great lakes region optical enginering students whose families make $75-$110k list, UDayton has also earned the #2 rank in our “Best Optical Enginering Schools in the Great Lakes Region” ranking. It costs about $28,897 for Great Lakes Region Optical Enginering students whose families make $75-$110k per year to attend UDayton.

Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 91%. The low undergrad student loan default rate of 1.4% 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%.

Read full report on Optical Enginering at University of Dayton

2

Rose - Hulman Institute of Technology
Terre Haute, Indiana

#1 in overall quality

$39,401 Average Net Price

$71,502 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Rose - Hulman Institute of Technology. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Best Value Optical Enginering Schools in the Great Lakes Region For Those Making $75-$110k list. Rose - Hulman Institute of Technology is located in Terre Haute, Indiana and, has a small student population. In 2020-2021, this school awarded 9 ’s optical enginering degrees to qualified students.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at Rose - Hulman Institute of Technology, the school also landed the #1 spot in our “Best Optical Enginering Schools in the Great Lakes Region” ranking. It costs about $39,401 for Great Lakes Region Optical Enginering students whose families make $75-$110k per year to attend Rose - Hulman Institute of Technology.

With a undergrad student-to-faculty ratio of 10 to 1, it’s easy to see that the school is committed to helping their undergraduates succeed. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 90%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year. The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is 1.0%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

Read more about Optical Enginering at Rose - Hulman Institute of Technology

• Best Value Colleges for Optical Enginering (Income $75-$110k)

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 NASA.