2023 Best Value Colleges for Religious Studies (Income $48-$75k) in Pennsylvania

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 Religion Schools in Pennsylvania For Those Making $48-$75k” ranking.

In 2020-2021, 9,470 people earned their degree in religious studies, making the major the 90th most popular in the United States. In 2019-2020, religious studies graduates who were awarded their degree in 2017-2019, earned an average of $34,289 and had an average of $24,431 in loans still to pay off.

Across Pennsylvania, there were 267 religious studies graduates with average earnings and debt of $28,083 and $31,000 respectively.

This year’s “Best Value Religion Schools in Pennsylvania For Those Making $48-$75k” ranking analyzed 3 colleges that offered a degree in religious studies. The schools that top this list are recognized because they have great religious studies programs and cost less that schools of similar quality.

When determining these rankings, we looked at things such as overall quality of the religious studies program at the school and the cost to attend the school once aid has been awarded. Check out our ranking methodology for more information.

More Ways to Rank Religious Studies Schools

Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we’ve developed the “Best Value Religion Schools in Pennsylvania For Those Making $48-$75k” ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.

In addition to our rankings, you can take two colleges and compare them based on the criteria that matters most to you in our unique tool, College Combat. 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.

Best Value Religion Schools in Pennsylvania For Those Making $48-$75k

The following schools top our list of the Best Best Value Religion Schools in Pennsylvania For Those Making $48-$75k.

Top 3 Best Value Colleges for Religious Studies (Income $48-$75k) in Pennsylvania

1

University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

#1 in overall quality

$12,020 Average Net Price

$81,207 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of Pennsylvania. The school came in at #1 for the Best Value Religion Schools in Pennsylvania For Those Making $48-$75k. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is the setting for this large institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out ’s religion degrees to 8 students in 2020-2021.

In addition to being on our pennsylvania religion students whose families make $48-$75k list, UPenn has also earned the #1 rank in our “Best Religious Studies Schools in Pennsylvania” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for University of Pennsylvania is $12,020 for Pennsylvania Religion students whose families make $48-$75k.

The impressive undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio of 6 to 1 means that students may have more opportunities to work more closely with their professors than they would at other schools. The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 0.9%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. With a freshman retention rate of 95%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its undergraduate students.

Read full report on Religious Studies at University of Pennsylvania

2

Cairn University
Langhorne, Pennsylvania

#3 in overall quality

$21,941 Average Net Price

$28,756 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Cairn University. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Best Value Religion Schools in Pennsylvania For Those Making $48-$75k list. Cairn University is located in Langhorne, Pennsylvania and, has a small student population. In 2020-2021, this school awarded 6 ’s religion degrees to qualified students.

Cairn not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #3 on our “Best Religious Studies Schools in Pennsylvania” list. The yearly cost to attend Cairn University is $21,941 for pennsylvania religion students whose families make $48-$75k.

Full Cairn Religious Studies Report

3

University of Scranton
Scranton, Pennsylvania

#2 in overall quality

$29,844 Average Net Price

$48,740 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of Scranton. The school came in at #3 for the Best Value Religion Schools in Pennsylvania For Those Making $48-$75k. This small school is located in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and it awarded 6 ’s religion degrees in 2020-2021.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at University of Scranton, the school also landed the #2 spot in our “Best Religious Studies Schools in Pennsylvania” ranking. It costs about $29,844 for pennsylvania religion students whose families make $48-$75k per year to attend University of Scranton.

The low undergrad student loan default rate of 1.5% 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 89%.

Read full report on Religious Studies at University of Scranton

• Best Value Colleges for Religious Studies (Income $48-$75k) in the Middle Atlantic Region
• Best Value Colleges for Religious Studies (Income $48-$75k)

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 Sowlos.