2022 Best Value Astronomy Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Plains States Region

Students have lots of options to chooose from today when trying to decide which college to attend. At College Factual, we’re committed to helping you make that decision by providing information such as that found in our “Best Value Astronomy Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Plains States Region” ranking.

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 the Plains States region, there were 31 astronomy and astrophysics graduates with average earnings and debt of $0 and $0 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 22 astronomy and astrophysics graduates with average earnings and debt of $39,786 and $25,576 respectively.

This year’s “Best Value Astronomy Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Plains States Region” ranking analyzed 2 colleges that offered a degree 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.

When determining these rankings, we looked at things such as overall quality of the astronomy and astrophysics 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 Astronomy Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Plains States Region” 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. We encourage you to try it out and pit your favorite colleges and universities head to head! If you don’t have time right now, you can bookmark it for later.

Best Value Astronomy Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Plains States Region

The colleges and universities below are the best for plains states region bachelor’s degree astronomy students.

Top 2 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Astronomy & Astrophysics in the Plains States Region

#1

University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

Minneapolis, Minnesota

#1 in overall quality

$17,740 Average Net Price

$44,942 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 Astronomy Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Plains States Region. UMN Twin Cities is a large public school situated in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It awarded 13 bachelors’s astronomy degrees in 2019-2020.

UMN Twin Cities did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #1 on our “Best Astronomy & Astrophysics Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Plains States Region” list. The yearly cost to attend University of Minnesota - Twin Cities is $17,740 for Plains States Region Bachelor’s Degree Astronomy students.

The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 2.2%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 93%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.

Full University of Minnesota - Twin Cities Astronomy & Astrophysics Report

#2

University of Kansas

Lawrence, Kansas

#2 in overall quality

$18,918 Average Net Price

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of Kansas. The school came in at #2 for the Best Value Astronomy Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Plains States Region. University of Kansas is a large school located in Lawrence, Kansas that handed out 1 bachelors’s astronomy degrees in 2019-2020.

KU did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #2 on our “Best Astronomy & Astrophysics Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Plains States Region” list. The estimated yearly cost for KU is $18,918 for plains states region bachelor’s degree astronomy students.

With a freshman retention rate of 86%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students.

Read more about Astronomy & Astrophysics at University of Kansas

• 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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