2022 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Area Studies in Missouri

When pursuing a degree in today’s world, students have many different options to choose from. 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 Area Studies Schools for a Bachelor’s in Missouri” ranking is part of that endeavor.

Area Studies is the 106th most popular major in the country with 6,820 degrees awarded in 2019-2020. In 2017-2018, area studies graduates who were awarded their degree in 2015-2017, earned an average of $33,734 and had an average of $23,024 in loans still to pay off.

Across Missouri, there were 130 area studies graduates with average earnings and debt of $35,000 and $26,424 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 112 area studies graduates with average earnings and debt of $37,837 and $25,380 respectively.

This year’s “Best Value Area Studies Schools for a Bachelor’s in Missouri” ranking looked at 3 colleges that offer degrees in a bachelor’s in area studies. The schools that top this list are recognized because they have great area studies 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 area studies 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.

More Ways to Rank Area Studies Schools

Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we’ve developed the “Best Value Area Studies Schools for a Bachelor’s in Missouri” ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.

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. When you have some time, check it out - you may want to bookmark the link so you don’t forget it.

Best Value Area Studies Schools for a Bachelor’s in Missouri

The colleges and universities below are the best for missouri bachelor’s degree area studies students.

Top 3 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Area Studies in Missouri

#1

University of Missouri - Columbia

Columbia, Missouri

#2 in overall quality

$16,001 Average Net Price

$38,649 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of Missouri - Columbia. It ranked #1 on our 2022 Best Value Area Studies Schools for a Bachelor’s in Missouri list. Located in Columbia, Missouri, this large public school awarded 76 diplomas to qualified bachelors’s area studies students in 2019-2020.

Mizzou did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #2 on our “Best Area Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Missouri” list. The yearly cost to attend Mizzou is $16,001 for missouri bachelor’s degree area studies students.

The student loan default rate at the school is 3.6%, 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 89%.

Read more about Area Studies at University of Missouri - Columbia

#2

Saint Louis University

Saint Louis, Missouri

#3 in overall quality

$28,188 Average Net Price

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Saint Louis University. It ranked #2 on our 2022 Best Value Area Studies Schools for a Bachelor’s in Missouri list. Saint Louis, Missouri is the setting for this fairly large institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out bachelors’s area studies degrees to 7 students in 2019-2020.

SLU also took the #3 spot in our “Best Area Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Missouri” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for Saint Louis University is $28,188 for Missouri Bachelor’s Degree Area Studies 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%. The student-to-faculty ratio of 9 to 1 is a sign that students will have more opportunities to engage with their professors one-on-one. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 90%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.

Full SLU Area Studies Report

#3

Washington University in St Louis

Saint Louis, Missouri

#1 in overall quality

$26,869 Average Net Price

$50,465 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Washington University in St Louis. The school came in at #3 for the Best Value Area Studies Schools for a Bachelor’s in Missouri. Washington University in St Louis is a fairly large private not-for-profit school situated in Saint Louis, Missouri. It awarded 29 bachelors’s area studies degrees in 2019-2020.

WUSTL not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #1 on our “Best Area Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Missouri” list. The yearly cost to attend WUSTL is $26,869 for missouri bachelor’s degree area studies students.

With a freshman retention rate of 94%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students. The low 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%. With a student-to-faculty ratio of 7 to 1, it’s easy to see that the school is committed to helping their undergraduates succeed.

Read more about Area Studies at WUSTL

• Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Area Studies in the Plains States Region
• Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Area Studies

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 Karl Udo Gerth.

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