2022 Best Value Forestry Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Plains States Region

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 Forestry Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Plains States Region” ranking.

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 Plains States region, there were 115 forestry graduates with average earnings and debt of $37,650 and $19,081 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 89 forestry graduates with average earnings and debt of $39,786 and $25,576 respectively.

For this year’s “Best Value Forestry Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Plains States Region” ranking, we looked at 3 colleges that offer a degree in forestry. This ranking identifies schools with high-quality forestry programs that also have a lower cost than 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. Check out our ranking methodology for more information.

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 Forestry Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Plains States 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. We encourage you to try it out and pit your favorite colleges and universities head to head! If you don’t have time right now, you can bookmark it for later.

Best Value Forestry Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Plains States Region

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

Top 3 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Forestry in the Plains States Region

#1

Iowa State University

Ames, Iowa

#2 in overall quality

$15,496 Average Net Price

$35,772 Average Early-Career Earnings

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 Forestry Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Plains States Region. Iowa State is a large school located in Ames, Iowa that handed out 29 bachelors’s forestry degrees in 2019-2020.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at Iowa State, the school also landed the #2 spot in our “Best Forestry Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Plains States Region” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for Iowa State University is $15,496 for plains states region bachelor’s degree forestry students.

The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 89%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year. The low student loan default rate of 3.3% 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 full report on Forestry at Iowa State

#2

University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

Minneapolis, Minnesota

#1 in overall quality

$17,740 Average Net Price

$45,500 Average Early-Career Earnings

Out of the 3 schools in the Best Value Forestry Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Plains States Region that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities landed the #2 spot on the list. University of Minnesota - Twin Cities is a large public school situated in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It awarded 46 bachelors’s forestry degrees in 2019-2020.

In addition to being on our plains states region bachelor’s degree forestry students list, UMN Twin Cities has also earned the #1 rank in our “Best Forestry Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Plains States Region” ranking. It costs about $17,740 for Plains States Region Bachelor’s Degree Forestry students per year to attend UMN Twin Cities.

The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 93%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year. The student loan default rate at the school is 2.2%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

Read more about Forestry at UMN Twin Cities

#3

University of Missouri - Columbia

Columbia, Missouri

#3 in overall quality

$16,001 Average Net Price

$36,848 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of Missouri - Columbia. The school came in at #3 for the Best Value Forestry Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Plains States Region. University of Missouri - Columbia is a large school located in Columbia, Missouri that handed out 14 bachelors’s forestry degrees in 2019-2020.

Mizzou also made our “Best Forestry Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Plains States Region” list, coming in at #3. The yearly cost to attend University of Missouri - Columbia is $16,001 for plains states region bachelor’s degree forestry students.

The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 89%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year. The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 3.6%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.

Full University of Missouri - Columbia Forestry Report

• Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Forestry

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 Bureau of Land Management.

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