2023 Best Value Colleges for Biological & Physical Science in the Plains States Region

Students have lots of options to chooose from today when trying to decide which college to attend. 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 Biological Science Schools in the Plains States Region” ranking is part of that endeavor.

Biological & Physical Science is the 38th most popular major in the country with 30,075 degrees awarded in 2020-2021. In 2019-2020, biological and physical science graduates who were awarded their degree in 2017-2019, earned an average of $30,402 and had an average of $15,005 in loans still to pay off.

Across the Plains States region, there were 109 biological and physical science graduates with average earnings and debt of $0 and $0 respectively.

This year’s “Best Value Biological Science Schools in the Plains States Region” ranking analyzed 2 colleges that offered a degree in biological and physical science. The schools that top this list are recognized because they have great biological and physical science 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 biological and physical science program at the school and the cost of the school after aid is awarded among other things. Check out our ranking methodology for more information.

One Size Does Not Fit All

Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we’ve developed the “Best Value Biological Science Schools in the Plains States Region” 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. 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 Biological Science Schools in the Plains States Region

The colleges and universities below are the best for plains states region biological science students.

Top 2 Best Value Colleges for Biological & Physical Science in the Plains States Region

1

University of Northern Iowa
Cedar Falls, Iowa

#1 in overall quality

$16,438 Average Net Price

$40,810 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of Northern Iowa. The school came in at #1 for the Best Value Biological Science Schools in the Plains States Region. Located in Cedar Falls, Iowa, this medium-sized public school awarded 18 diplomas to qualified ’s biological science students in 2020-2021.

UNI did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #1 on our “Best Biological & Physical Science Schools in the Plains States Region” list. The yearly cost to attend University of Northern Iowa is $16,438 for plains states region biological science students.

With a freshman retention rate of 86%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its undergraduate students. The low undergrad student loan default rate of 2.8% 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 more about Biological & Physical Science at University of Northern Iowa

2

Fort Hays State University
Hays, Kansas

#2 in overall quality

$13,189 Average Net Price

$43,454 Average Early-Career Earnings

Out of the 2 schools in the Best Value Biological Science Schools in the Plains States Region that were part of this year’s ranking, Fort Hays State University landed the #2 spot on the list. Fort Hays State University is a fairly large school located in Hays, Kansas that handed out 2 ’s biological science degrees in 2020-2021.

FHSU did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #2 on our “Best Biological & Physical Science Schools in the Plains States Region” list. The yearly cost to attend Fort Hays State University is $13,189 for Plains States Region Biological Science students.

Read more about Biological & Physical Science at FHSU

• Best Value Colleges for Biological & Physical 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.