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2022 Best Value Forestry Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Great Lakes Region

7 Ranked Colleges
198 Degrees Awarded
$16,800 Avg Net Price*
Best Value Forestry Schools for a Bachelor's in the Great Lakes Region

Students have lots of options to chooose from today when trying to decide which college to attend. One of our goals at College Factual is to give you as much information as we can - such as our “Best Value Forestry Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Great Lakes Region” ranking - to help you make that decision.

Forestry is the 187th most popular major in the country with 2,292 degrees awarded in 2019-2020. In 2017-2018, forestry graduates who were awarded their degree in 2015-2017, earned an average of $38,496 and had an average of $20,610 in loans still to pay off.

Across the Great Lakes region, there were 301 forestry graduates with average earnings and debt of $34,933 and $20,043 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 198 forestry graduates with average earnings and debt of $39,075 and $25,381 respectively.

This year’s “Best Value Forestry Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Great Lakes Region” ranking looked at 7 colleges that offer degrees in a bachelor’s in forestry. Not only do the schools that top this list have excellent forestry 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 forestry 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

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 Forestry Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Great Lakes Region” list to help you make the college decision.

To further help you make the college decision, we’ve developed a unique tool called College Combat that allows you to compare schools based on the factors that matter the most to you. Test it out when you get a chance! You may also want to bookmark the link and share it with others who are trying to make the college decision.

Best Value Forestry Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Great Lakes Region

The colleges and universities below are the best for great lakes region bachelor’s degree forestry students.

Top 7 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Forestry in the Great Lakes Region

#1

University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point

Stevens Point, Wisconsin

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point. The school came in at #1 for the Best Value Forestry Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Great Lakes Region. This medium-sized school is located in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, and it awarded 69 bachelors’s forestry degrees in 2019-2020.

UW - Stevens Point also made our “Best Forestry Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region” list, coming in at #3. It costs about $14,465 for Great Lakes Region Bachelor’s Degree Forestry students per year to attend UW - Stevens Point.

Full University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point Forestry Report

Out of the 7 schools in the Best Value Forestry Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Great Lakes Region that were part of this year’s ranking, Southern Illinois University Carbondale landed the #2 spot on the list. This fairly large school is located in Carbondale, Illinois, and it awarded 49 bachelors’s forestry degrees in 2019-2020.

SIUC did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #6 on our “Best Forestry Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region” list. The estimated yearly cost for Southern Illinois University Carbondale is $16,945 for great lakes region bachelor’s degree forestry students.

Read full report on Forestry at Southern Illinois University Carbondale

#3

Purdue University - Main Campus

West Lafayette, Indiana

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Purdue University - Main Campus. It ranked #3 on our 2022 Best Value Forestry Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Great Lakes Region list. Purdue is a large public school situated in West Lafayette, Indiana. It awarded 20 bachelors’s forestry degrees in 2019-2020.

Purdue did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #5 on our “Best Forestry Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region” list. The estimated yearly cost for Purdue University - Main Campus is $13,986 for great lakes region bachelor’s degree forestry students.

The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 2.2%, 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 93%.

Read more about Forestry at Purdue University - Main Campus

Out of the 7 schools in the Best Value Forestry Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Great Lakes Region that were part of this year’s ranking, Michigan Technological University landed the #4 spot on the list. This medium-sized school is located in Houghton, Michigan, and it awarded 21 bachelors’s forestry degrees in 2019-2020.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at Michigan Tech, the school also landed the #1 spot in our “Best Forestry Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region” ranking. The yearly cost to attend Michigan Tech is $16,463 for great lakes region bachelor’s degree forestry students.

The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 2.3%, 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 86%.

Read more about Forestry at Michigan Tech

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of Wisconsin - Madison. The school came in at #5 for the Best Value Forestry Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Great Lakes Region. This large school is located in Madison, Wisconsin, and it awarded 9 bachelors’s forestry degrees in 2019-2020.

UW - Madison also took the #2 spot in our “Best Forestry Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for University of Wisconsin - Madison is $17,708 for Great Lakes Region Bachelor’s Degree Forestry students.

Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 95%. The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 0.8%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.

Read full report on Forestry at University of Wisconsin - Madison

#6

Michigan State University

East Lansing, Michigan

Michigan State University came in at #6 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Forestry Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Great Lakes Region ranking. Located in East Lansing, Michigan, this large public school awarded 22 diplomas to qualified bachelors’s forestry students in 2019-2020.

Michigan State did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #4 on our “Best Forestry Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region” list. The yearly cost to attend Michigan State University is $19,173 for great lakes region bachelor’s degree forestry students.

The low student loan default rate of 3.6% 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%. With a freshman retention rate of 91%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students.

Full Michigan State Forestry Report

#7

Northland College

Ashland, Wisconsin
#7 in overall quality

Northland College ranked #7 on this year’s Best Value Forestry Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Great Lakes Region list. Ashland, Wisconsin is the setting for this small institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out bachelors’s forestry degrees to 8 students in 2019-2020.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at Northland, the school also landed the #7 spot in our “Best Forestry Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region” ranking. The yearly cost to attend Northland is $18,969 for great lakes region bachelor’s degree forestry students.

With a student-to-faculty ratio of 10 to 1, it’s easy to see that the school is committed to helping their undergraduates succeed.

Read full report on Forestry at Northland

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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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