2023 Best Value Petroleum Engineering Schools in the Rocky Mountains Region For Those Making $75-$110k

With all of the options students have for higher education today, it can be tough to choose which direction to take. College Factual was founded, in part, to help students make the decision as to what would be the best school for them. Our “Best Value Petroleum Engineering Schools in the Rocky Mountains Region For Those Making $75-$110k” ranking is part of that endeavor.

In 2020-2021, 1,256 people earned their degree in petroleum engineering, making the major the 223rd most popular in the United States. 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 $75-$110k” ranking looked at 3 colleges that offer degrees in a bachelor’s in petroleum engineering. The schools that top this list are recognized because they have great petroleum 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 petroleum 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

Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we’ve developed a number of rankings, including this “Best Value Petroleum Engineering Schools in the Rocky Mountains Region For Those Making $75-$110k” list, to help you choose the best school for you.

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. 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 Petroleum Engineering Schools in the Rocky Mountains Region For Those Making $75-$110k

The following schools top our list of the Best Best Value Petroleum Engineering Schools in the Rocky Mountains Region For Those Making $75-$110k.

Top 3 Best Value Colleges for Petroleum Engineering (Income $75-$110k) in the Rocky Mountains Region

1

University of Wyoming
Laramie, Wyoming

#3 in overall quality

$15,178 Average Net Price

$44,258 Average Early-Career Earnings

Out of the 3 schools in the Best Value Petroleum Engineering Schools in the Rocky Mountains Region For Those Making $75-$110k that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Wyoming landed the #1 spot on the list. UW is a public institution located in Laramie, Wyoming. The school has a fairly large population, and it awarded 41 ’s degrees in 2020-2021.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at UW, the school also landed the #3 spot in our “Best Petroleum Engineering Schools in the Rocky Mountains Region” ranking. It costs about $15,178 for Rocky Mountains Region Petroleum Engineering students whose families make $75-$110k per year to attend UW.

The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is 3.5%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

Full UW Petroleum Engineering Report

2

Montana Technological University
Butte, Montana

#2 in overall quality

$18,851 Average Net Price

$63,042 Average Early-Career Earnings

Out of the 3 schools in the Best Value Petroleum Engineering Schools in the Rocky Mountains Region For Those Making $75-$110k that were part of this year’s ranking, Montana Technological University landed the #2 spot on the list. Montana Technological University is a small school located in Butte, Montana that handed out 34 ’s petroleum engineering degrees in 2020-2021.

In addition to being on our rocky mountains region petroleum engineering students whose families make $75-$110k list, Montana Tech has also earned the #2 rank in our “Best Petroleum Engineering Schools in the Rocky Mountains Region” ranking. The yearly cost to attend Montana Tech is $18,851 for Rocky Mountains Region Petroleum Engineering students whose families make $75-$110k.

Read full report on Petroleum Engineering at Montana Tech

3

Colorado School of Mines
Golden, Colorado

#1 in overall quality

$31,412 Average Net Price

$72,191 Average Early-Career Earnings

Out of the 3 schools in the Best Value Petroleum Engineering Schools in the Rocky Mountains Region For Those Making $75-$110k that were part of this year’s ranking, Colorado School of Mines landed the #3 spot on the list. Golden, Colorado is the setting for this medium-sized institution of higher learning. The public school handed out ’s petroleum engineering degrees to 86 students in 2020-2021.

Mines not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #1 on our “Best Petroleum Engineering Schools in the Rocky Mountains Region” list. The estimated yearly cost for Colorado School of Mines is $31,412 for Rocky Mountains Region Petroleum Engineering students whose families make $75-$110k.

The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is 0.7%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 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.

Read more about Petroleum Engineering at Mines

• Best Value Colleges for Petroleum Engineering (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.