2023 Best Value Colleges for Library & Information Science in the New England Region

When it comes to choosing a college, students have a lot of options - but not all of them are good. One of our goals at College Factual is to give you as much information as we can - such as our “Best Value Library and Information Science Schools in the New England Region” ranking - to help you make that decision.

In 2020-2021, 5,696 people earned their degree in library and information science, making the major the 134th most popular in the United States.

Across the New England region, there were 219 library and information science graduates with average earnings and debt of $0 and $0 respectively.

This year’s “Best Value Library and Information Science Schools in the New England Region” ranking analyzed 2 colleges that offered a degree in library and information science. The schools that top this list are recognized because they have great library and information science programs and cost less that schools of similar quality.

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

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 Library and Information Science Schools in the New England Region” list, to help you choose the best school for you.

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 Library and Information Science Schools in the New England Region

The following schools top our list of the Best Best Value Library and Information Science Schools in the New England Region.

Top 2 Best Value Colleges for Library & Information Science in the New England Region

1

Simmons University
Boston, Massachusetts

#1 in overall quality

$27,920 Average Net Price

$55,531 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Simmons University. The school came in at #1 for the Best Value Library and Information Science Schools in the New England Region. Simmons is a medium-sized school located in Boston, Massachusetts that handed out 124 ’s library and information science degrees in 2020-2021.

Simmons not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #1 on our “Best Library & Information Science Schools in the New England Region” list. It costs about $27,920 for New England Region Library and Information Science students per year to attend Simmons University.

The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 1.4%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. With a undergrad student-to-faculty ratio of 9 to 1, it’s easy to see that the school is committed to helping their undergraduates succeed.

Full Simmons Library & Information Science Report

2

University of Rhode Island
Kingston, Rhode Island

#2 in overall quality

$18,638 Average Net Price

$44,926 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of Rhode Island. The school came in at #2 for the Best Value Library and Information Science Schools in the New England Region. Located in Kingston, Rhode Island, this fairly large public school awarded 46 degrees to qualified ’s library and information science students in 2020-2021.

URI did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #2 on our “Best Library & Information Science Schools in the New England Region” list. The estimated yearly cost for URI is $18,638 for new england region library and information science students.

With a freshman retention rate of 85%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its undergraduate students. The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 4.3%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.

Read more about Library & Information Science at URI

• Best Value Colleges for Library & Information Science

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 Diliff.