2023 Best Value Astronomy Schools in the Rocky Mountains Region For Those Making $48-$75k

When it comes to choosing a college, students have a lot of options - but not all of them are good. College Factual was founded, in part, to help students make the decision as to what would be the best school for them. Our “Best Value Astronomy Schools in the Rocky Mountains Region For Those Making $48-$75k” ranking is part of that endeavor.

Astronomy & Astrophysics is the 219th most popular major in the country with 1,375 degrees awarded in 2020-2021. In 2019-2020, astronomy and astrophysics graduates who were awarded their degree in 2017-2019, earned an average of $31,221 and had an average of $24,484 in loans still to pay off.

Across the Rocky Mountains region, there were 85 astronomy and astrophysics graduates with average earnings and debt of $37,212 and $22,422 respectively.

This year’s “Best Value Astronomy Schools in the Rocky Mountains Region For Those Making $48-$75k” ranking looked at 2 colleges that offer degrees in a bachelor’s in astronomy and astrophysics. Not only do the schools that top this list have excellent astronomy and astrophysics 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 astronomy and astrophysics 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.

More Ways to Rank Astronomy & Astrophysics Schools

Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we’ve developed the “Best Value Astronomy Schools in the Rocky Mountains Region 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. Test it out by comparing your favorite schools against others you are considering, or bookmark the tool so you can experiment with it later.

Best Value Astronomy Schools in the Rocky Mountains Region For Those Making $48-$75k

The colleges and universities below are the best for rocky mountains region astronomy students whose families make $48-$75k.

Top 2 Best Value Colleges for Astronomy & Astrophysics (Income $48-$75k) in the Rocky Mountains Region

1

University of Wyoming
Laramie, Wyoming

#2 in overall quality

$9,394 Average Net Price

$44,258 Average Early-Career Earnings

Out of the 2 schools in the Best Value Astronomy Schools in the Rocky Mountains Region For Those Making $48-$75k that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Wyoming landed the #1 spot on the list. University of Wyoming is a fairly large school located in Laramie, Wyoming that handed out 7 ’s astronomy degrees in 2020-2021.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at UW, the school also landed the #2 spot in our “Best Astronomy & Astrophysics Schools in the Rocky Mountains Region” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for University of Wyoming is $9,394 for Rocky Mountains Region Astronomy students whose families make $48-$75k.

The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 3.5%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.

Read full report on Astronomy & Astrophysics at UW

2

University of Colorado Boulder
Boulder, Colorado

#1 in overall quality

$18,204 Average Net Price

$48,893 Average Early-Career Earnings

Out of the 2 schools in the Best Value Astronomy Schools in the Rocky Mountains Region For Those Making $48-$75k that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Colorado Boulder landed the #2 spot on the list. This large school is located in Boulder, Colorado, and it awarded 73 ’s astronomy degrees in 2020-2021.

CU - Boulder not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #1 on our “Best Astronomy & Astrophysics Schools in the Rocky Mountains Region” list. It costs about $18,204 for rocky mountains region astronomy students whose families make $48-$75k per year to attend CU - Boulder.

Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 85%. The low undergrad student loan default rate of 2.4% 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%.

Full CU - Boulder Astronomy & Astrophysics Report

• Best Value Colleges for Astronomy & Astrophysics (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.