2022 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Mechanical Engineering in South Carolina

Students have lots of options to chooose from today when trying to decide which college to attend. College Factual has developed its “Best Value ME Schools for a Bachelor’s in South Carolina” ranking as one item you can use to help make this decision.

Mechanical Engineering is the 20th most popular major in the country with 47,598 degrees awarded in 2019-2020. In 2017-2018, mechanical engineering graduates who were awarded their degree in 2015-2017, earned an average of $64,495 and had an average of $23,104 in loans still to pay off.

Across South Carolina, there were 589 mechanical engineering graduates with average earnings and debt of $64,350 and $22,875 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 487 mechanical engineering graduates with average earnings and debt of $0 and $0 respectively.

This year’s “Best Value ME Schools for a Bachelor’s in South Carolina” ranking analyzed 3 colleges that offered a degree in mechanical engineering. The schools that top this list are recognized because they have great mechanical engineering programs and 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 mechanical engineering program at the school. See our ranking methodology to learn more.

One Size Does Not Fit All

The me 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 ME Schools for a Bachelor’s in South Carolina”.

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 ME Schools for a Bachelor’s in South Carolina

The colleges and universities below are the best for south carolina bachelor’s degree me students.

Top 3 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Mechanical Engineering in South Carolina

#1

Citadel Military College of South Carolina

Charleston, South Carolina

#3 in overall quality

$18,548 Average Net Price

Out of the 3 schools in the Best Value ME Schools for a Bachelor’s in South Carolina that were part of this year’s ranking, Citadel Military College of South Carolina landed the #1 spot on the list. Citadel Military College of South Carolina is a small public school situated in Charleston, South Carolina. It awarded 73 bachelors’s ME degrees in 2019-2020.

The Citadel also made our “Best Mechanical Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in South Carolina” list, coming in at #3. The estimated yearly cost for The Citadel is $18,548 for south carolina bachelor’s degree me students.

The student loan default rate at the school is 4.7%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 87%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.

Read more about Mechanical Engineering at Citadel Military College of South Carolina

#2

University of South Carolina - Columbia

Columbia, South Carolina

#2 in overall quality

$20,509 Average Net Price

$64,629 Average Early-Career Earnings

Out of the 3 schools in the Best Value ME Schools for a Bachelor’s in South Carolina that were part of this year’s ranking, University of South Carolina - Columbia landed the #2 spot on the list. UofSC is located in Columbia, South Carolina and, has a large student population. In 2019-2020, this school awarded 186 bachelors’s ME degrees to qualified students.

In addition to being on our south carolina bachelor’s degree me students list, UofSC has also earned the #2 rank in our “Best Mechanical Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in South Carolina” ranking. The yearly cost to attend University of South Carolina - Columbia is $20,509 for South Carolina Bachelor’s Degree ME students.

Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 90%. 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 more about Mechanical Engineering at University of South Carolina - Columbia

#3

Clemson University

Clemson, South Carolina

#1 in overall quality

$20,008 Average Net Price

$67,212 Average Early-Career Earnings

Out of the 3 schools in the Best Value ME Schools for a Bachelor’s in South Carolina that were part of this year’s ranking, Clemson University landed the #3 spot on the list. Clemson is a large public school situated in Clemson, South Carolina. It awarded 228 bachelors’s ME degrees in 2019-2020.

In addition to being on our south carolina bachelor’s degree me students list, Clemson has also earned the #1 rank in our “Best Mechanical Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in South Carolina” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for Clemson University is $20,008 for South Carolina Bachelor’s Degree ME 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 full report on Mechanical Engineering at Clemson

• Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Mechanical Engineering in the Southeast Region
• Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Mechanical 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 Michel Villeneuve.

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