2023 Best Value Optometry Schools in the Southeast Region For Those Making $48-$75k

With all of the options students have for higher education today, it can be tough to choose which direction to take. College Factual has developed its “Best Value Optometry Schools in the Southeast Region For Those Making $48-$75k” ranking as one item you can use to help make this decision.

In 2020-2021, 1,822 people earned their degree in optometry, making the major the 194th most popular in the United States. In 2019-2020, optometry graduates who were awarded their degree in 2017-2019, earned an average of $88,635 and had an average of $0 in loans still to pay off.

Across the Southeast region, there were 346 optometry graduates with average earnings and debt of $94,909 and $0 respectively.

This year’s “Best Value Optometry Schools in the Southeast Region For Those Making $48-$75k” ranking looked at 3 colleges that offer degrees in a bachelor’s in optometry. Not only do the schools that top this list have excellent optometry programs, but they also cost less that schools of similar quality.

Some of the factors we look at when determining these rankings are overall quality of the optometry program at the school and the cost of the school after aid is awarded among other things. See our ranking methodology to learn more.

More Ways to Rank Optometry Schools

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 Optometry Schools in the Southeast Region For Those Making $48-$75k” list to help you make the college 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. Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.

Best Value Optometry Schools in the Southeast Region For Those Making $48-$75k

The colleges and universities below are the best for southeast region optometry students whose families make $48-$75k.

Top 3 Best Value Colleges for Optometry (Income $48-$75k) in the Southeast Region

1

University of Alabama at Birmingham
Birmingham, Alabama

#1 in overall quality

$17,857 Average Net Price

$51,494 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of Alabama at Birmingham. It ranked #1 on our 2023 Best Value Optometry Schools in the Southeast Region For Those Making $48-$75k list. UAB is located in Birmingham, Alabama and, has a large student population. In 2020-2021, this school awarded 50 ’s optometry degrees to qualified students.

UAB also made our “Best Optometry Schools in the Southeast Region” list, coming in at #1. The yearly cost to attend University of Alabama at Birmingham is $17,857 for southeast region optometry students whose families make $48-$75k.

The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 86%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year. The low undergrad student loan default rate of 4.8% 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 full report on Optometry at UAB

2

Nova Southeastern University
Fort Lauderdale, Florida

#2 in overall quality

$27,150 Average Net Price

$61,266 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Nova Southeastern University. The school came in at #2 for the Best Value Optometry Schools in the Southeast Region For Those Making $48-$75k. Fort Lauderdale, Florida is the setting for this large institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out ’s optometry degrees to 107 students in 2020-2021.

NUS Florida also took the #2 spot in our “Best Optometry Schools in the Southeast Region” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for Nova Southeastern University is $27,150 for Southeast Region Optometry students whose families make $48-$75k.

The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 1.9%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.

Read more about Optometry at NUS Florida

3

University of Pikeville
Pikeville, Kentucky

#3 in overall quality

$14,360 Average Net Price

$39,949 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of Pikeville. It ranked #3 on our 2023 Best Value Optometry Schools in the Southeast Region For Those Making $48-$75k list. Located in Pikeville, Kentucky, this small private not-for-profit school handed out 55 degrees to qualified ’s optometry students in 2020-2021.

UPIKE did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #3 on our “Best Optometry Schools in the Southeast Region” list. The yearly cost to attend University of Pikeville is $14,360 for Southeast Region Optometry students whose families make $48-$75k.

Full UPIKE Optometry Report

• Best Value Colleges for Optometry (Income $48-$75k)

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.