2023 Best Value Colleges for Religious Studies (Income $75-$110k) in Pennsylvania

Students have lots of options to chooose from today when trying to decide which college to attend. College Factual has developed its “Best Value Religion Schools in Pennsylvania For Those Making $75-$110k” ranking as one item you can use to help make this decision.

Religious Studies is the 90th most popular major in the country with 9,470 degrees awarded in 2020-2021. 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.

For this year’s “Best Value Religion Schools in Pennsylvania For Those Making $75-$110k” ranking, we looked at 3 colleges that offer a degree in religious studies. Not only do the schools that top this list have excellent religious studies programs, but they also cost less that schools of similar quality.

Some of the factors we look at when determining these rankings are overall quality of the religious studies program at the school and the cost of the school after aid is awarded among other things. See our ranking methodology to learn more.

More Ways to Rank Religious Studies Schools

Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we’ve developed a number of rankings, including this “Best Value Religion Schools in Pennsylvania For Those Making $75-$110k” 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. 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 $75-$110k

The colleges and universities below are the best for pennsylvania religion students whose families make $75-$110k.

Top 3 Best Value Colleges for Religious Studies (Income $75-$110k) in Pennsylvania

1

University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

#1 in overall quality

$20,957 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 $75-$110k. University of Pennsylvania is located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and, has a large student population. In 2020-2021, this school awarded 8 ’s religion degrees to qualified students.

In addition to being on our pennsylvania religion students whose families make $75-$110k list, UPenn has also earned the #1 rank in our “Best Religious Studies Schools in Pennsylvania” ranking. It costs about $20,957 for pennsylvania religion students whose families make $75-$110k per year to attend UPenn.

With a freshman retention rate of 95%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its undergraduate students. The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is 0.9%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%. The undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio of 6 to 1 is a sign that students will have more opportunities to engage with their professors one-on-one.

Read full report on Religious Studies at UPenn

2

Cairn University
Langhorne, Pennsylvania

#3 in overall quality

$27,885 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 $75-$110k list. Cairn is located in Langhorne, Pennsylvania and, has a small student population. In 2020-2021, this school awarded 6 ’s religion degrees to qualified students.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at Cairn, the school also landed the #3 spot in our “Best Religious Studies Schools in Pennsylvania” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for Cairn University is $27,885 for Pennsylvania Religion students whose families make $75-$110k.

Full Cairn Religious Studies Report

3

University of Scranton
Scranton, Pennsylvania

#2 in overall quality

$32,898 Average Net Price

$48,740 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of Scranton. It ranked #3 on our 2023 Best Value Religion Schools in Pennsylvania For Those Making $75-$110k list. University of Scranton is located in Scranton, Pennsylvania and, has a small student population. In 2020-2021, this school awarded 6 ’s religion degrees to qualified students.

University of Scranton not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #2 on our “Best Religious Studies Schools in Pennsylvania” list. The yearly cost to attend University of Scranton is $32,898 for Pennsylvania Religion students whose families make $75-$110k.

With a freshman retention rate of 89%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its undergraduate students. 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%.

Read more about Religious Studies at University of Scranton

• Best Value Colleges for Religious Studies (Income $75-$110k) in the Middle Atlantic Region
• Best Value Colleges for Religious Studies (Income $75-$110k)

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.