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2022 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Liberal Arts General Studies in Iowa

5 Ranked Colleges
451 Degrees Awarded
$17,500 Avg Net Price*
Best Value Liberal Arts Schools for a Bachelor's in Iowa

When it comes to choosing a college, students have a lot of options - but not all of them are good. At College Factual, we’re committed to helping you make that decision by providing information such as that found in our “Best Value Liberal Arts Schools for a Bachelor’s in Iowa” ranking.

Liberal Arts General Studies is one of the most popular majors in the nation, ranking 1st of all the majors we analyze. In 2019-2020, 559,661 degrees were awarded to students with this major. In 2017-2018, liberal arts general studies graduates who were awarded their degree in 2015-2017, earned an average of $26,786 and had an average of $16,538 in loans still to pay off.

Across Iowa, there were 6,129 liberal arts general studies graduates with average earnings and debt of $29,768 and $15,875 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 451 liberal arts general studies graduates with average earnings and debt of $39,922 and $25,876 respectively.

For this year’s “Best Value Liberal Arts Schools for a Bachelor’s in Iowa” ranking, we looked at 5 colleges that offer a degree in liberal arts general studies. Not only do the schools that top this list have excellent liberal arts general studies programs, but they also cost less that schools of similar quality.

When determining these rankings, we looked at things such as overall quality of the liberal arts general studies program at the school and the cost to attend the school once aid has been awarded. For more information, check out our ranking methodology.

One Size Does Not Fit All

The liberal arts school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we’ve developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of “Best Value Liberal Arts Schools for a Bachelor’s in Iowa”.

One of our other unique offerings is College Combat. This tool lets you build your own customized comparisons utilizing the factors that are most important 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 Liberal Arts Schools for a Bachelor’s in Iowa

The following schools top our list of the Best Best Value Liberal Arts Schools for a Bachelor’s in Iowa.

Top 5 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Liberal Arts General Studies in Iowa

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Iowa State University. The school came in at #1 for the Best Value Liberal Arts Schools for a Bachelor’s in Iowa. Iowa State University is a public institution located in Ames, Iowa. The school has a large population, and it awarded 80 bachelors’s degrees in 2019-2020.

Iowa State did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #2 on our “Best Liberal Arts General Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Iowa” list. The yearly cost to attend Iowa State University is $15,496 for Iowa Bachelor’s Degree Liberal Arts students.

Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 89%. The student loan default rate at the school is 3.3%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

Read full report on Liberal Arts General Studies at Iowa State

#2

University of Iowa

Iowa City, Iowa

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of Iowa. The school came in at #2 for the Best Value Liberal Arts Schools for a Bachelor’s in Iowa. Iowa is located in Iowa City, Iowa and, has a large student population. In 2019-2020, this school awarded 190 bachelors’s liberal arts degrees to qualified students.

In addition to being on our iowa bachelor’s degree liberal arts students list, Iowa has also earned the #1 rank in our “Best Liberal Arts General Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Iowa” ranking. The yearly cost to attend University of Iowa is $19,145 for Iowa Bachelor’s Degree Liberal Arts students.

The student loan default rate at the school is 3.5%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 88%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.

Read full report on Liberal Arts General Studies at University of Iowa

#3

University of Northern Iowa

Cedar Falls, Iowa

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of Northern Iowa. It ranked #3 on our 2022 Best Value Liberal Arts Schools for a Bachelor’s in Iowa list. Cedar Falls, Iowa is the setting for this medium-sized institution of higher learning. The public school handed out bachelors’s liberal arts degrees to 76 students in 2019-2020.

UNI did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #3 on our “Best Liberal Arts General Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Iowa” list. The yearly cost to attend UNI is $15,620 for iowa bachelor’s degree liberal arts students.

Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 86%. 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%.

Read full report on Liberal Arts General Studies at University of Northern Iowa

#4

Grand View University

Des Moines, Iowa

Out of the 5 schools in the Best Value Liberal Arts Schools for a Bachelor’s in Iowa that were part of this year’s ranking, Grand View University landed the #4 spot on the list. This small school is located in Des Moines, Iowa, and it awarded 23 bachelors’s liberal arts degrees in 2019-2020.

Grand View University also took the #4 spot in our “Best Liberal Arts General Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Iowa” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for Grand View University is $19,826 for iowa bachelor’s degree liberal arts students.

Read more about Liberal Arts General Studies at Grand View University

Out of the 5 schools in the Best Value Liberal Arts Schools for a Bachelor’s in Iowa that were part of this year’s ranking, Graceland University - Lamoni landed the #5 spot on the list. Located in Lamoni, Iowa, this small private not-for-profit school awarded 8 diplomas to qualified bachelors’s liberal arts students in 2019-2020.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at Graceland Lamoni, the school also landed the #5 spot in our “Best Liberal Arts General Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Iowa” ranking. It costs about $17,650 for Iowa Bachelor’s Degree Liberal Arts students per year to attend Graceland Lamoni.

Read full report on Liberal Arts General Studies at Graceland Lamoni

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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.

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