2023 Best Value Philosophy Schools in the Plains States Region

It’s not easy to decide which college to attend when there so many options available for students. One of our goals at College Factual is to give you as much information as we can - such as our “Best Value Philosophy Schools in the Plains States Region” ranking - to help you make that decision.

In 2020-2021, 10,054 people earned their degree in philosophy, making the major the 83rd most popular in the United States. In 2019-2020, philosophy graduates who were awarded their degree in 2017-2019, earned an average of $30,510 and had an average of $21,514 in loans still to pay off.

Across the Plains States region, there were 589 philosophy graduates with average earnings and debt of $29,200 and $20,699 respectively.

This year’s “Best Value Philosophy Schools in the Plains States Region” ranking looked at 3 colleges that offer degrees in a bachelor’s in philosophy. This ranking identifies schools with high-quality philosophy programs that also have a lower cost than schools of similar quality.

Some of the factors we look at when determining these rankings are overall quality of the philosophy program at the school and the cost of the school after aid is awarded among other things. For more information, check out our ranking methodology.

One Size Does Not Fit All

The philosophy 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 “Best Value Philosophy Schools in the Plains States Region”.

You can create your own custom comparison that focuses on the factors most important to you using our tool, College Combat. Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.

Best Value Philosophy Schools in the Plains States Region

The following schools top our list of the Best Best Value Philosophy Schools in the Plains States Region.

Top 3 Best Value Colleges for Philosophy in the Plains States Region

1

University of Minnesota - Duluth
Duluth, Minnesota

#3 in overall quality

$18,505 Average Net Price

$41,529 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of Minnesota - Duluth. It ranked #1 on our 2023 Best Value Philosophy Schools in the Plains States Region list. UMN Duluth is a medium-sized school located in Duluth, Minnesota that handed out 11 ’s philosophy degrees in 2020-2021.

UMN Duluth also took the #3 spot in our “Best Philosophy Schools in the Plains States Region” ranking. The yearly cost to attend UMN Duluth is $18,505 for plains states region philosophy students.

The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is 2.6%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

Full University of Minnesota - Duluth Philosophy Report

2

University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
Minneapolis, Minnesota

#1 in overall quality

$17,878 Average Net Price

$50,445 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of Minnesota - Twin Cities. The school came in at #2 for the Best Value Philosophy Schools in the Plains States Region. Located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, this large public school awarded 44 degrees to qualified ’s philosophy students in 2020-2021.

UMN Twin Cities did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #1 on our “Best Philosophy Schools in the Plains States Region” list. The yearly cost to attend UMN Twin Cities is $17,878 for plains states region philosophy students.

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%. With a freshman retention rate of 93%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its undergraduate students.

Read full report on Philosophy at UMN Twin Cities

3

University of St Thomas Minnesota
Saint Paul, Minnesota

#2 in overall quality

$31,066 Average Net Price

$56,351 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of St Thomas Minnesota. It ranked #3 on our 2023 Best Value Philosophy Schools in the Plains States Region list. University of St Thomas Minnesota is located in Saint Paul, Minnesota and, has a medium-sized student population. In 2020-2021, this school awarded 36 ’s philosophy degrees to qualified students.

UST MN also took the #2 spot in our “Best Philosophy Schools in the Plains States Region” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for University of St Thomas Minnesota is $31,066 for Plains States Region Philosophy students.

The low undergrad student loan default rate of 1.4% 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%. Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 87%.

Read more about Philosophy at UST MN

• Best Value Colleges for Philosophy

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.