2022 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Astronomy & Astrophysics in Virginia

With all of the options students have for higher education today, it can be tough to choose which direction to take. College Factual has developed its “Best Value Astronomy Schools for a Bachelor’s in Virginia” ranking as one item you can use to help make this decision.

In 2019-2020, 1,268 people earned their degree in astronomy and astrophysics, making the major the 222nd most popular in the United States. In 2017-2018, astronomy and astrophysics graduates who were awarded their degree in 2015-2017, earned an average of $27,700 and had an average of $21,346 in loans still to pay off.

Across Virginia, there were 35 astronomy and astrophysics graduates with average earnings and debt of $0 and $0 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 20 astronomy and astrophysics graduates with average earnings and debt of $0 and $0 respectively.

This year’s “Best Value Astronomy Schools for a Bachelor’s in Virginia” ranking analyzed 2 colleges that offered a degree in astronomy and astrophysics. The schools that top this list are recognized because they have great astronomy and astrophysics programs and cost less that schools of similar quality.

To come up with these rankings, we looked at factors such as the cost to attend the school after aid is awarded and overall quality of the astronomy and astrophysics program at the school. For more information, check out our ranking methodology.

More Ways to Rank Astronomy & Astrophysics Schools

When choosing the right school for you, it’s important to arm yourself with all the facts you can. To that end, we’ve created a number of major-specific rankings, including this “Best Value Astronomy Schools for a Bachelor’s in Virginia” list to help you make the college decision.

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. Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.

Best Value Astronomy Schools for a Bachelor’s in Virginia

The following schools top our list of the Best Best Value Astronomy Schools for a Bachelor’s in Virginia.

Top 2 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Astronomy & Astrophysics in Virginia

#1

University of Virginia - Main Campus

Charlottesville, Virginia

#1 in overall quality

$20,397 Average Net Price

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of Virginia - Main Campus. It ranked #1 on our 2022 Best Value Astronomy Schools for a Bachelor’s in Virginia list. University of Virginia is a public institution located in Charlottesville, Virginia. The school has a large population, and it awarded 16 bachelors’s degrees in 2019-2020.

In addition to being on our virginia bachelor’s degree astronomy students list, University of Virginia has also earned the #1 rank in our “Best Astronomy & Astrophysics Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Virginia” ranking. The yearly cost to attend University of Virginia is $20,397 for Virginia Bachelor’s Degree Astronomy students.

The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 1.6%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 97%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.

Read full report on Astronomy & Astrophysics at University of Virginia - Main Campus

#2

George Mason University

Fairfax, Virginia

#2 in overall quality

$21,048 Average Net Price

Out of the 2 schools in the Best Value Astronomy Schools for a Bachelor’s in Virginia that were part of this year’s ranking, George Mason University landed the #2 spot on the list. George Mason University is a large school located in Fairfax, Virginia that handed out 4 bachelors’s astronomy degrees in 2019-2020.

GMU also made our “Best Astronomy & Astrophysics Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Virginia” list, coming in at #2. It costs about $21,048 for virginia bachelor’s degree astronomy students per year to attend George Mason University.

Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 86%. The 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 GMU Astronomy & Astrophysics Report

• Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Astronomy & Astrophysics in the Southeast Region
• Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Astronomy & Astrophysics

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.

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