2023 Best Value Colleges for Religious Studies 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 Religion Schools in the Plains States Region” ranking - to help you make that 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 the Plains States region, there were 374 religious studies graduates with average earnings and debt of $30,550 and $23,250 respectively.

For this year’s “Best Value Religion Schools in the Plains States Region” ranking, we looked at 2 colleges that offer a degree in religious studies. This ranking identifies schools with high-quality religious studies 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 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.

One Size Does Not Fit All

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 the Plains States Region” ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.

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. When you have some time, check it out - you may want to bookmark the link so you don’t forget it.

Best Value Religion Schools in the Plains States Region

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

Top 2 Best Value Colleges for Religious Studies in the Plains States Region

1

University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
Minneapolis, Minnesota

#2 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 #1 for the Best Value Religion Schools in the Plains States Region. Located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, this large public school awarded 4 degrees to qualified ’s religion students in 2020-2021.

UMN Twin Cities did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #2 on our “Best Religious Studies Schools in the Plains States Region” list. The estimated yearly cost for UMN Twin Cities is $17,878 for plains states region religion students.

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 undergrad student loan default rate at the school is 1.7%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

Read more about Religious Studies at University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

2

University of St Thomas Minnesota
Saint Paul, Minnesota

#1 in overall quality

$31,066 Average Net Price

$56,351 Average Early-Career Earnings

Out of the 2 schools in the Best Value Religion Schools in the Plains States Region that were part of this year’s ranking, University of St Thomas Minnesota landed the #2 spot on the 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 45 ’s religion degrees to qualified students.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at UST MN, the school also landed the #1 spot in our “Best Religious Studies Schools in the Plains States Region” ranking. It costs about $31,066 for Plains States Region Religion students per year to attend UST MN.

Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 87%. The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is 1.4%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

Full University of St Thomas Minnesota Religious Studies Report

• Best Value Colleges for Religious Studies

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.