2023 Best Value Colleges for Petroleum Engineering (Income $30-$48k) in the Rocky Mountains Region

When pursuing a degree in today’s world, students have many different options to choose from. One of our goals at College Factual is to give you as much information as we can - such as our “Best Value Petroleum Engineering Schools in the Rocky Mountains Region For Those Making $30-$48k” ranking - to help you make that decision.

Petroleum Engineering is the 223rd most popular major in the country with 1,256 degrees awarded in 2020-2021. In 2019-2020, petroleum engineering graduates who were awarded their degree in 2017-2019, earned an average of $83,917 and had an average of $25,780 in loans still to pay off.

Across the Rocky Mountains region, there were 164 petroleum engineering graduates with average earnings and debt of $88,574 and $27,110 respectively.

This year’s “Best Value Petroleum Engineering Schools in the Rocky Mountains Region For Those Making $30-$48k” ranking looked at 3 colleges that offer degrees in a bachelor’s in petroleum engineering. Not only do the schools that top this list have excellent petroleum 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 petroleum engineering program at the school. Check out our ranking methodology for more information.

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 Petroleum Engineering Schools in the Rocky Mountains Region For Those Making $30-$48k” ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.

To further help you make the college decision, we’ve developed a unique tool called College Combat that allows you to compare schools based on the factors that matter the most to you. If you’re torn between two schools, you can use it to help you see how they stack up against one another. Bookmark it so you can compare any new schools that might interest you.

Best Value Petroleum Engineering Schools in the Rocky Mountains Region For Those Making $30-$48k

The colleges and universities below are the best for rocky mountains region petroleum engineering students whose families make $30-$48k.

Top 3 Best Value Colleges for Petroleum Engineering (Income $30-$48k) in the Rocky Mountains Region

1

University of Wyoming
Laramie, Wyoming

#3 in overall quality

$6,776 Average Net Price

$44,258 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of Wyoming. It ranked #1 on our 2023 Best Value Petroleum Engineering Schools in the Rocky Mountains Region For Those Making $30-$48k list. University of Wyoming is a fairly large public school situated in Laramie, Wyoming. It awarded 41 ’s petroleum engineering degrees in 2020-2021.

UW did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #3 on our “Best Petroleum Engineering Schools in the Rocky Mountains Region” list. It costs about $6,776 for rocky mountains region petroleum engineering students whose families make $30-$48k per year to attend UW.

The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 3.5%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.

Read more about Petroleum Engineering at UW

2

Colorado School of Mines
Golden, Colorado

#1 in overall quality

$13,690 Average Net Price

$72,191 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Colorado School of Mines. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Best Value Petroleum Engineering Schools in the Rocky Mountains Region For Those Making $30-$48k list. This medium-sized school is located in Golden, Colorado, and it awarded 86 ’s petroleum engineering degrees in 2020-2021.

Mines also made our “Best Petroleum Engineering Schools in the Rocky Mountains Region” list, coming in at #1. The estimated yearly cost for Mines is $13,690 for rocky mountains region petroleum engineering students whose families make $30-$48k.

The low undergrad student loan default rate of 0.7% 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%. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 92%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.

Full Colorado School of Mines Petroleum Engineering Report

3

Montana Technological University
Butte, Montana

#2 in overall quality

$11,712 Average Net Price

$63,042 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Montana Technological University. It ranked #3 on our 2023 Best Value Petroleum Engineering Schools in the Rocky Mountains Region For Those Making $30-$48k list. Butte, Montana is the setting for this small institution of higher learning. The public school handed out ’s petroleum engineering degrees to 34 students in 2020-2021.

Montana Tech did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #2 on our “Best Petroleum Engineering Schools in the Rocky Mountains Region” list. It costs about $11,712 for Rocky Mountains Region Petroleum Engineering students whose families make $30-$48k per year to attend Montana Tech.

Full Montana Technological University Petroleum Engineering Report

• Best Value Colleges for Petroleum Engineering (Income $30-$48k)

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.