2023 Best Value Colleges for Fisheries Sciences (Income $30-$48k) in the Great Lakes Region

When pursuing a degree in today’s world, students have many different options to choose from. At College Factual, we’re committed to helping you make that decision by providing information such as that found in our “Best Value Fisheries Schools in the Great Lakes Region For Those Making $30-$48k” ranking.

Fisheries Sciences is the 290th most popular major in the country with 483 degrees awarded in 2020-2021. In 2019-2020, fisheries sciences graduates who were awarded their degree in 2017-2019, earned an average of $29,766 and had an average of $26,788 in loans still to pay off.

Across the Great Lakes region, there were 144 fisheries sciences graduates with average earnings and debt of $26,370 and $23,283 respectively.

For this year’s “Best Value Fisheries Schools in the Great Lakes Region For Those Making $30-$48k” ranking, we looked at 4 colleges that offer a degree in fisheries sciences. The schools that top this list are recognized because they have great fisheries sciences 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 fisheries sciences 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.

More Ways to Rank Fisheries Sciences 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 Fisheries Schools in the Great Lakes Region For Those Making $30-$48k” list to help you make the college 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. Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.

Best Value Fisheries Schools in the Great Lakes Region For Those Making $30-$48k

The following schools top our list of the Best Best Value Fisheries Schools in the Great Lakes Region For Those Making $30-$48k.

Top 4 Best Value Colleges for Fisheries Sciences (Income $30-$48k) in the Great Lakes Region

1

Purdue University - Main Campus
West Lafayette, Indiana

#2 in overall quality

$5,853 Average Net Price

$53,430 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Purdue University - Main Campus. The school came in at #1 for the Best Value Fisheries Schools in the Great Lakes Region For Those Making $30-$48k. Purdue is a large school located in West Lafayette, Indiana that handed out 40 ’s fisheries degrees in 2020-2021.

Purdue did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #2 on our “Best Fisheries Sciences Schools in the Great Lakes Region” list. The yearly cost to attend Purdue is $5,853 for Great Lakes Region Fisheries students whose families make $30-$48k.

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 school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 93%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.

Read more about Fisheries Sciences at Purdue

2

University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point
Stevens Point, Wisconsin

#1 in overall quality

$9,052 Average Net Price

$36,544 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point. The school came in at #2 for the Best Value Fisheries Schools in the Great Lakes Region For Those Making $30-$48k. UW - Stevens Point is a medium-sized school located in Stevens Point, Wisconsin that handed out 55 ’s fisheries degrees in 2020-2021.

In addition to being on our great lakes region fisheries students whose families make $30-$48k list, UW - Stevens Point has also earned the #1 rank in our “Best Fisheries Sciences Schools in the Great Lakes Region” ranking. The yearly cost to attend University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point is $9,052 for great lakes region fisheries students whose families make $30-$48k.

Read full report on Fisheries Sciences at University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point

3

Lake Superior State University
Sault Ste Marie, Michigan

#3 in overall quality

$9,967 Average Net Price

$41,512 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Lake Superior State University. The school came in at #3 for the Best Value Fisheries Schools in the Great Lakes Region For Those Making $30-$48k. Lake Superior State University is a small school located in Sault Ste Marie, Michigan that handed out 29 ’s fisheries degrees in 2020-2021.

Lake Superior State University not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #3 on our “Best Fisheries Sciences Schools in the Great Lakes Region” list. It costs about $9,967 for great lakes region fisheries students whose families make $30-$48k per year to attend Lake Superior State University.

Read full report on Fisheries Sciences at Lake Superior State University

4

Northern Michigan University
Marquette, Michigan

#4 in overall quality

$10,573 Average Net Price

$33,476 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Northern Michigan University. It ranked #4 on our 2023 Best Value Fisheries Schools in the Great Lakes Region For Those Making $30-$48k list. Northern Michigan University is a medium-sized school located in Marquette, Michigan that handed out 14 ’s fisheries degrees in 2020-2021.

Northern Michigan University did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #4 on our “Best Fisheries Sciences Schools in the Great Lakes Region” list. It costs about $10,573 for great lakes region fisheries students whose families make $30-$48k per year to attend Northern Michigan University.

Read full report on Fisheries Sciences at Northern Michigan University

• Best Value Colleges for Fisheries Sciences (Income $30-$48k)

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 Ootahara.