2022 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Physical Sciences in Iowa (With Aid)

With all of the options students have for higher education today, it can be tough to choose which direction to take. 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 Physical Sciences Schools for a Bachelor’s in Iowa For Those Getting Aid” ranking is part of that endeavor.

Physical Sciences is the 18th most popular major in the country with 52,879 degrees awarded in 2019-2020. In 2017-2018, physical sciences graduates who were awarded their degree in 2015-2017, earned an average of $38,122 and had an average of $22,339 in loans still to pay off.

Across Iowa, there were 490 physical sciences graduates with average earnings and debt of $0 and $25,510 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 378 physical sciences graduates with average earnings and debt of $39,922 and $25,876 respectively.

This year’s “Best Value Physical Sciences Schools for a Bachelor’s in Iowa For Those Getting Aid” ranking looked at 3 colleges that offer degrees in a bachelor’s in physical sciences. This ranking identifies schools with high-quality physical sciences 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 physical sciences program at the school and the cost to attend the school once aid has been awarded. For more information, check out our ranking methodology.

More Ways to Rank Physical Sciences 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 Physical Sciences Schools for a Bachelor’s in Iowa For Those Getting Aid” list to help you make the college decision.

You can create your own custom comparison that focuses on the factors most important to you using our 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 Physical Sciences Schools for a Bachelor’s in Iowa For Those Getting Aid

The colleges and universities below are the best for iowa bachelor’s degree physical sciences students with aid.

Top 3 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Physical Sciences in Iowa (With Aid)

#1

University of Northern Iowa

Cedar Falls, Iowa

#2 in overall quality

$15,620 Average Net Price

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of Northern Iowa. The school came in at #1 for the Best Value Physical Sciences Schools for a Bachelor’s in Iowa For Those Getting Aid. UNI is a public institution located in Cedar Falls, Iowa. The school has a medium-sized population, and it awarded 29 bachelors’s degrees in 2019-2020.

UNI did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #2 on our “Best Physical Sciences Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Iowa” list. The estimated yearly cost for University of Northern Iowa is $15,620 for iowa bachelor’s degree physical sciences students with aid.

The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 3.6%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 86%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.

Read more about Physical Sciences at UNI

#2

Iowa State University

Ames, Iowa

#3 in overall quality

$15,496 Average Net Price

Out of the 3 schools in the Best Value Physical Sciences Schools for a Bachelor’s in Iowa For Those Getting Aid that were part of this year’s ranking, Iowa State University landed the #2 spot on the list. Iowa State University is a large public school situated in Ames, Iowa. It awarded 85 bachelors’s physical sciences degrees in 2019-2020.

Iowa State did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #3 on our “Best Physical Sciences Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Iowa” list. The estimated yearly cost for Iowa State is $15,496 for iowa bachelor’s degree physical sciences students with aid.

The student loan default rate at the school is 3.3%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%. With a freshman retention rate of 89%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students.

Full Iowa State University Physical Sciences Report

#3

Luther College

Decorah, Iowa

#1 in overall quality

$23,620 Average Net Price

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Luther College. It ranked #3 on our 2022 Best Value Physical Sciences Schools for a Bachelor’s in Iowa For Those Getting Aid list. Luther College is a small private not-for-profit school situated in Decorah, Iowa. It awarded 13 bachelors’s physical sciences degrees in 2019-2020.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at Luther, the school also landed the #1 spot in our “Best Physical Sciences Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Iowa” ranking. It costs about $23,620 for Iowa Bachelor’s Degree Physical Sciences students with aid per year to attend Luther College.

The low student loan default rate of 2.2% 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%.

Read more about Physical Sciences at Luther College

• Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Physical Sciences in the Plains States Region (With Aid)
• Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Physical Sciences (With Aid)

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 NASA.

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