2023 Best Value Colleges for Applied Economics in the Far Western US Region

When pursuing a degree in today’s world, students have many different options to choose from. Our mission at College Factual is to arm you with as much information as we can to help you make that decision. Our “Best Value Applied Economics Schools in the Far Western US Region” ranking is one tool we have developed to help in this regard.

Applied Economics is the 534th most popular major in the country with 618 degrees awarded in 2020-2021.

Across the Far Western US region, there were 41 applied economics graduates with average earnings and debt of $0 and $0 respectively.

For this year’s “Best Value Applied Economics Schools in the Far Western US Region” ranking, we looked at 2 colleges that offer a degree in applied economics. This ranking identifies schools with high-quality applied economics programs that also have a lower cost than schools of similar quality.

Some of the factors we look at when determining these rankings are overall quality of the applied economics 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

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 Applied Economics Schools in the Far Western US Region” 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 Applied Economics Schools in the Far Western US Region

The colleges and universities below are the best for far western us region applied economics students.

Top 2 Best Value Colleges for Applied Economics in the Far Western US Region

1

University of California - Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California

#1 in overall quality

$15,023 Average Net Price

$53,838 Average Early-Career Earnings

Out of the 2 schools in the Best Value Applied Economics Schools in the Far Western US Region that were part of this year’s ranking, University of California - Los Angeles landed the #1 spot on the list. UCLA is a large school located in Los Angeles, California that handed out 32 ’s applied economics degrees in 2020-2021.

UCLA also took the #1 spot in our “Best Applied Economics Schools in the Far Western US Region” ranking. It costs about $15,023 for far western us region applied economics students per year to attend University of California - Los Angeles.

Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 96%. The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 1.6%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.

Full UCLA Applied Economics Report

2

Oregon State University
Corvallis, Oregon

#2 in overall quality

$21,508 Average Net Price

$43,202 Average Early-Career Earnings

Out of the 2 schools in the Best Value Applied Economics Schools in the Far Western US Region that were part of this year’s ranking, Oregon State University landed the #2 spot on the list. Oregon State University is a public institution located in Corvallis, Oregon. The school has a large population, and it awarded 7 ’s degrees in 2020-2021.

Oregon State did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #2 on our “Best Applied Economics Schools in the Far Western US Region” list. The estimated yearly cost for Oregon State is $21,508 for far western us region applied economics students.

The low undergrad student loan default rate of 2.8% 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%. With a freshman retention rate of 85%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its undergraduate students.

Full Oregon State Applied Economics Report

• Best Value Colleges for Applied Economics

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 pixabay.