2023 Best Value Colleges for Optometry in the Far Western US Region (With Aid)

It’s not easy to decide which college to attend when there so many options available for students. Our mission at College Factual is to arm you with as much information as we can to help you make that decision. Our “Best Value Optometry Schools in the Far Western US Region For Those Getting Aid” ranking is one tool we have developed to help in this regard.

Optometry is the 194th most popular major in the country with 1,822 degrees awarded in 2020-2021. 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 Far Western US region, there were 344 optometry graduates with average earnings and debt of $77,245 and $0 respectively.

For this year’s “Best Value Optometry Schools in the Far Western US Region For Those Getting Aid” ranking, we looked at 2 colleges that offer a degree in optometry. The schools that top this list are recognized because they have great optometry programs and cost less that schools of similar quality.

When determining these rankings, we looked at things such as overall quality of the optometry program at the school and the cost to attend the school once aid has been awarded. Check out our ranking methodology for more information.

More Ways to Rank Optometry Schools

Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we’ve developed the “Best Value Optometry Schools in the Far Western US Region For Those Getting Aid” ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.

We’ve created a tool called College Combat that lets you create your own customized comparisons based on the factors that matter the most to you. Test it out by comparing your favorite schools against others you are considering, or bookmark the tool so you can experiment with it later.

Best Value Optometry Schools in the Far Western US Region For Those Getting Aid

The colleges and universities below are the best for far western us region optometry students with aid.

Top 2 Best Value Colleges for Optometry in the Far Western US Region (With Aid)

1

University of California - Berkeley
Berkeley, California

#1 in overall quality

$16,032 Average Net Price

$60,587 Average Early-Career Earnings

Out of the 2 schools in the Best Value Optometry Schools in the Far Western US Region For Those Getting Aid that were part of this year’s ranking, University of California - Berkeley landed the #1 spot on the list. Located in Berkeley, California, this large public school awarded 83 diplomas to qualified ’s optometry students in 2020-2021.

UC Berkeley also took the #1 spot in our “Best Optometry Schools in the Far Western US Region” ranking. It costs about $16,032 for far western us region optometry students with aid per year to attend UC Berkeley.

The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 1.8%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 96%.

Full UC Berkeley Optometry Report

2

Pacific University
Forest Grove, Oregon

#2 in overall quality

$32,045 Average Net Price

$56,736 Average Early-Career Earnings

Out of the 2 schools in the Best Value Optometry Schools in the Far Western US Region For Those Getting Aid that were part of this year’s ranking, Pacific University landed the #2 spot on the list. Pacific University is a small private not-for-profit school situated in Forest Grove, Oregon. It awarded 88 ’s optometry degrees in 2020-2021.

Pacific also took the #2 spot in our “Best Optometry Schools in the Far Western US Region” ranking. It costs about $32,045 for far western us region optometry students with aid per year to attend Pacific University.

The low undergrad student loan default rate of 1.7% 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 impressive undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio of 10 to 1 means that students may have more opportunities to work more closely with their professors than they would at other schools.

Read full report on Optometry at Pacific University

• Best Value Colleges for Optometry (With Aid)

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.