2022 Best Value Doctor’s Degree Colleges for Physics and Astronomy

Students have lots of options to chooose from today when trying to decide which college to attend. College Factual has developed its “Best Value Physics and Astronomy Schools for a Doctorate” ranking as one item you can use to help make this decision.

With 55 degrees handed out in 2019-2020, physics and astronomy is the most popular major in the United States.

At the doctor’s degree level specifically, there were 5 physics and astronomy graduates with average earnings and debt of $72,680 and $116,043 respectively.

The schools that top this list are recognized because they have great physics and astronomy programs and cost less that schools of similar quality.

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

One Size Does Not Fit All

Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we’ve developed a number of rankings, including this “Best Value Physics and Astronomy Schools for a Doctorate” list, to help you choose the best school for you.

To further help you make the college decision, we’ve developed a unique tool called College Combat that allows you to compare schools based on the factors that matter the most to you. 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 Physics and Astronomy Schools for a Doctorate

The following schools top our list of the Best Best Value Physics and Astronomy Schools for a Doctorate.

Top 1 Best Value Doctor’s Degree Colleges for Physics and Astronomy

#1

University of Kentucky

Lexington, Kentucky

#1 in overall quality

$33,216 Avg Grad Tuition & Fees

Out of the 1 schools in the Best Value Physics and Astronomy Schools for a Doctorate that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Kentucky landed the #1 spot on the list. Located in Lexington, Kentucky, this large public school awarded 5 diplomas to qualified doctorate’s physics and astronomy students in 2019-2020.

UK did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #1 on our “Best Physics and Astronomy Doctor’s Degree Schools” list. Although you might pay more or less depending on your area of study, average graduate tuition and fees at UK are $33,216.

Full UK Physics and Astronomy Report

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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