2023 Most Veteran Friendly in Virginia for Natural Resources & Conservation for a Master’s

Veterans have lots of options to chooose from today when trying to decide which college to attend. Our mission at College Factual is to arm you with as much information as we can to help you make that decision. Our “Most Veteran Friendly in Virginia for Natural Resources & Conservation for a Master’s” ranking is one tool we have developed to help in this regard.

Natural Resources & Conservation is the 25th most popular major in the country with 30,503 degrees awarded in 2020-2021. In 2019-2020, natural resources and conservation graduates who were awarded their degree in 2017-2019, earned an average of $35,158 and had an average of $23,267 in loans still to pay off.

Across Virginia, there were 873 natural resources and conservation graduates with average earnings and debt of $35,358 and $23,435 respectively.

For this year’s “Most Veteran Friendly in Virginia for Natural Resources & Conservation for a Master’s” ranking, we looked at 3 colleges that offer a degree in natural resources and conservation. Not only do the schools that top this list have excellent natural resources and conservation programs, but they also offer a lot of support to veterans and active service members.

Some of the factors we look at when determining these rankings are overall quality of the natural resources and conservation program at the school, veteran affordability, and veteran population. For more information, check out our ranking methodology.

More Ways to Rank Natural Resources & Conservation Schools

The natural resources & conservation school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we’ve developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of “Most Veteran Friendly in Virginia for Natural Resources & Conservation for a Master’s”.

One of our other unique offerings is College Combat. This tool lets you build your own customized comparisons utilizing the factors that are most important to you. 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.

Most Veteran Friendly in Virginia for Natural Resources & Conservation for a Master’s

The following schools top our list of the Best “Most Veteran Friendly in Virginia for Natural Resources & Conservation for a Master’s”.

Top 3 Best Natural Resources & Conservation Master’s Degree Colleges for Veterans in Virginia

1

Virginia Tech
Blacksburg, Virginia

119 GI Bill® Students**

#1 in overall quality

YES Student Veterans Organization

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Virginia Tech. It ranked #1 on our 2023 Most Veteran Friendly in Virginia for Natural Resources & Conservation for a Master’s list. This large school is located in Blacksburg, Virginia, and it awarded 92 masters’s natural resources and conservation degrees in 2020-2021.

In addition to being on our virginia master’s degree vets studying natural resources & conservation list, Virginia Tech has also earned the #1 rank in our “Best Natural Resources & Conservation Master’s Degree Schools in Virginia” ranking.Our most recent data shows that 119 of the 37,024 students enrolled at Virginia Tech were GI Bill® students, of which 108 were Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients. The average Post-9/11 GI Bill® award for tuition and fees at the school was $12,314. During this same period, 0 students received funds through the Yellow Ribbon Program.

With a freshman retention rate of 93%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its undergraduate students. The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is [DEFAULT_RATE_STRING]%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

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2

University of Virginia - Main Campus
Charlottesville, Virginia

3 GI Bill® Students**

#2 in overall quality

YES Student Veterans Organization

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of Virginia - Main Campus. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Most Veteran Friendly in Virginia for Natural Resources & Conservation for a Master’s list. This large school is located in Charlottesville, Virginia, and it awarded 42 masters’s natural resources and conservation degrees in 2020-2021.

University of Virginia did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #2 on our “Best Natural Resources & Conservation Master’s Degree Schools in Virginia” list.Of the 25,628 students enrolled at University of Virginia, 3 were GI Bill® students, according to our most recent data. Out of that number, 0 were Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients. The average tuition and fees award for the Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients was $0. To help with additional expenses, 0 students received funds through the Yellow Ribbon Program.

Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 97%. The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only [DEFAULT_RATE_STRING]%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.

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3

George Mason University
Fairfax, Virginia

2,334 GI Bill® Students**

#3 in overall quality

$10,710 Average GI Bill® Award

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend George Mason University. The school came in at #3 for the Most Veteran Friendly in Virginia for Natural Resources & Conservation for a Master’s. GMU is a large public school situated in Fairfax, Virginia. It awarded 14 masters’s natural resources and conservation degrees in 2020-2021.

GMU also made our “Best Natural Resources & Conservation Master’s Degree Schools in Virginia” list, coming in at #3.Our most recent data shows that 2,334 of the 38,541 students enrolled at George Mason University were GI Bill® students, of which 1,583 were Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients. The average tuition and fees award for the Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients was $10,710. To help with additional expenses, 42 students received scholarships through the Yellow Ribbon Program. Eligible students may be able to receive credit for their military training.

The low undergrad student loan default rate of [DEFAULT_RATE_STRING]% 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 86%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its undergraduate students.

Read More…

• Best Natural Resources & Conservation Master’s Degree Colleges for Veterans in the Southeast Region
• Best Natural Resources & Conservation Master’s Degree Colleges for Veterans

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).
• Veteran-specific data can be found at the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs.
• 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

• *Avg Salary and Avg 4-Year Grad Rate are for the top schools only.
• **GI Bill® student total includes all chapters of the GI Bill® program (e.g., Post-9/11, Montgomery GI Bill, Reserve Education Assistance Program, and Veteran Readiness and Employment)
• 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 Lynn Betts.