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2022 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Materials Engineering in the Southeast Region

9 Ranked Colleges
398 Degrees Awarded
$17,300 Avg Net Price*
Best Value Materials Engineering Schools for a Bachelor's in the Southeast 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 Materials Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Southeast Region” ranking - to help you make that decision.

In 2019-2020, 3,485 people earned their degree in materials engineering, making the major the 150th most popular in the United States. In 2017-2018, materials engineering graduates who were awarded their degree in 2015-2017, earned an average of $63,129 and had an average of $23,918 in loans still to pay off.

Across the Southeast region, there were 768 materials engineering graduates with average earnings and debt of $58,280 and $25,704 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 398 materials engineering graduates with average earnings and debt of $36,277 and $25,415 respectively.

For this year’s “Best Value Materials Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Southeast Region” ranking, we looked at 9 colleges that offer a degree in materials engineering. The schools that top this list are recognized because they have great materials engineering 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 materials 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

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 Materials Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Southeast Region” list to help you make the college decision.

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. We encourage you to try it out and pit your favorite colleges and universities head to head! If you don’t have time right now, you can bookmark it for later.

Best Value Materials Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Southeast Region

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

Top 9 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Materials Engineering in the Southeast Region

#1

University of Florida

Gainesville, Florida

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of Florida. The school came in at #1 for the Best Value Materials Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Southeast Region. UF is a large public school situated in Gainesville, Florida. It awarded 70 bachelors’s materials engineering degrees in 2019-2020.

In addition to being on our southeast region bachelor’s degree materials engineering students list, UF has also earned the #3 rank in our “Best Materials Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Southeast Region” ranking. The yearly cost to attend University of Florida is $6,302 for southeast region bachelor’s degree materials engineering students.

The student loan default rate at the school is 2.0%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%. Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 97%.

Read full report on Materials Engineering at University of Florida

#2

Virginia Tech

Blacksburg, Virginia

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Virginia Tech. The school came in at #2 for the Best Value Materials Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Southeast Region. Virginia Tech is a large public school situated in Blacksburg, Virginia. It awarded 63 bachelors’s materials engineering degrees in 2019-2020.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at Virginia Tech, the school also landed the #2 spot in our “Best Materials Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Southeast Region” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for Virginia Tech is $21,198 for southeast region bachelor’s degree materials engineering students.

The student loan default rate at the school is 1.6%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%. Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 93%.

Full Virginia Tech Materials Engineering Report

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of Alabama at Birmingham. The school came in at #3 for the Best Value Materials Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Southeast Region. Birmingham, Alabama is the setting for this large institution of higher learning. The public school handed out bachelors’s materials engineering degrees to 17 students in 2019-2020.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at UAB, the school also landed the #9 spot in our “Best Materials Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Southeast Region” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for UAB is $16,953 for southeast region bachelor’s degree materials engineering students.

With a freshman retention rate of 86%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students.

Full University of Alabama at Birmingham Materials Engineering Report

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Georgia Institute of Technology - Main Campus. The school came in at #4 for the Best Value Materials Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Southeast Region. Atlanta, Georgia is the setting for this large institution of higher learning. The public school handed out bachelors’s materials engineering degrees to 99 students in 2019-2020.

Georgia Tech also took the #1 spot in our “Best Materials Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Southeast Region” ranking. The yearly cost to attend Georgia Institute of Technology - Main Campus is $14,739 for Southeast Region Bachelor’s Degree Materials Engineering students.

The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 1.3%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. With a freshman retention rate of 97%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students.

Read more about Materials Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology - Main Campus

#5

North Carolina State University

Raleigh, North Carolina

Out of the 9 schools in the Best Value Materials Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Southeast Region that were part of this year’s ranking, North Carolina State University landed the #5 spot on the list. North Carolina State University is a large public school situated in Raleigh, North Carolina. It awarded 47 bachelors’s materials engineering degrees in 2019-2020.

NC State not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #5 on our “Best Materials Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Southeast Region” list. It costs about $16,458 for Southeast Region Bachelor’s Degree Materials Engineering students per year to attend North Carolina State University.

The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 2.9%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. With a freshman retention rate of 94%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students.

Full NC State Materials Engineering Report

#8 in overall quality

The University of Tennessee - Knoxville ranked #6 on this year’s Best Value Materials Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Southeast Region list. UT Knoxville is a large public school situated in Knoxville, Tennessee. It awarded 31 bachelors’s materials engineering degrees in 2019-2020.

UT Knoxville also made our “Best Materials Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Southeast Region” list, coming in at #8. The estimated yearly cost for UT Knoxville is $18,825 for Southeast Region Bachelor’s Degree Materials Engineering students.

The student loan default rate at the school is 4.3%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%. With a freshman retention rate of 89%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students.

Read more about Materials Engineering at The University of Tennessee - Knoxville

#7

University of Kentucky

Lexington, Kentucky

With a ranking of #7, University of Kentucky did quite well on the 2022 Best Value Materials Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Southeast Region list. University of Kentucky is a large school located in Lexington, Kentucky that handed out 15 bachelors’s materials engineering degrees in 2019-2020.

UK did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #7 on our “Best Materials Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Southeast Region” list. It costs about $17,127 for southeast region bachelor’s degree materials engineering students per year to attend UK.

With a freshman retention rate of 86%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students.

Read more about Materials Engineering at University of Kentucky

#8

Auburn University

Auburn, Alabama
#6 in overall quality

With a ranking of #8, Auburn University did quite well on the 2022 Best Value Materials Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Southeast Region list. Auburn is a public institution located in Auburn, Alabama. The school has a large population, and it awarded 18 bachelors’s degrees in 2019-2020.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at Auburn, the school also landed the #6 spot in our “Best Materials Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Southeast Region” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for Auburn University is $24,104 for southeast region bachelor’s degree materials engineering students.

The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 2.9%, 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 92%.

Read full report on Materials Engineering at Auburn University

#9

Clemson University

Clemson, South Carolina

With a ranking of #9, Clemson University did quite well on the 2022 Best Value Materials Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Southeast Region list. This large school is located in Clemson, South Carolina, and it awarded 38 bachelors’s materials engineering degrees in 2019-2020.

Clemson also made our “Best Materials Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Southeast Region” list, coming in at #4. The estimated yearly cost for Clemson is $20,008 for Southeast Region Bachelor’s Degree Materials Engineering students.

The student loan default rate at the school is 3.1%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 94%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.

Read more about Materials Engineering at Clemson University

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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 Panoramedia.

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