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2022 Best Value Social Sciences Schools for a Bachelor’s in Maine For Those Making $0-$30k

6 Ranked Colleges
859 Degrees Awarded
$7,400 Avg Net Price*
Best Value Social Sciences Schools for a Bachelor's in Maine For Those Making $0-$30k

It’s not easy to decide which college to attend when there so many options available for students. College Factual has developed its “Best Value Social Sciences Schools for a Bachelor’s in Maine For Those Making $0-$30k” ranking as one item you can use to help make this decision.

In 2019-2020, 205,726 social sciences students received their degree, making the major the 5th most popular in the country. In 2017-2018, social sciences graduates who were awarded their degree in 2015-2017, earned an average of $34,801 and had an average of $23,466 in loans still to pay off.

Across Maine, there were 897 social sciences graduates with average earnings and debt of $46,700 and $20,980 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 859 social sciences graduates with average earnings and debt of $40,256 and $26,111 respectively.

This year’s “Best Value Social Sciences Schools for a Bachelor’s in Maine For Those Making $0-$30k” ranking looked at 6 colleges that offer degrees in a bachelor’s in social sciences. This ranking identifies schools with high-quality social sciences programs that also have a lower cost than 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 social sciences program at the school. Check out our ranking methodology for more information.

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 Social Sciences Schools for a Bachelor’s in Maine For Those Making $0-$30k” 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. 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 Social Sciences Schools for a Bachelor’s in Maine For Those Making $0-$30k

The colleges and universities below are the best for maine bachelor’s degree social sciences students whose families make $0-$30k.

Top 6 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Social Sciences (Income $0-$30k) in Maine

#1

Bates College

Lewiston, Maine
#2 in overall quality

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Bates College. It ranked #1 on our 2022 Best Value Social Sciences Schools for a Bachelor’s in Maine For Those Making $0-$30k list. Bates College is a private not-for-profit institution located in Lewiston, Maine. The school has a small population, and it awarded 190 bachelors’s degrees in 2019-2020.

Bates did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #2 on our “Best Social Sciences Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Maine” list. The yearly cost to attend Bates College is $4,618 for maine bachelor’s degree social sciences students whose families make $0-$30k.

The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 90%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year. The student-to-faculty ratio of 10 to 1 is a sign that students will have more opportunities to engage with their professors one-on-one. The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 0.8%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.

Read more about Social Sciences at Bates

#2

Colby College

Waterville, Maine
#3 in overall quality

Out of the 6 schools in the Best Value Social Sciences Schools for a Bachelor’s in Maine For Those Making $0-$30k that were part of this year’s ranking, Colby College landed the #2 spot on the list. Located in Waterville, Maine, this small private not-for-profit school handed out 141 diplomas to qualified bachelors’s social sciences students in 2019-2020.

Colby not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #3 on our “Best Social Sciences Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Maine” list. The estimated yearly cost for Colby is $2,335 for Maine Bachelor’s Degree Social Sciences students whose families make $0-$30k.

The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 3.7%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 91%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year. The impressive student-to-faculty ratio of 10 to 1 means that students may have more opportunities to work more closely with their professors than they would at other schools.

Full Colby Social Sciences Report

#3

Bowdoin College

Brunswick, Maine
#1 in overall quality

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Bowdoin College. The school came in at #3 for the Best Value Social Sciences Schools for a Bachelor’s in Maine For Those Making $0-$30k. Located in Brunswick, Maine, this small private not-for-profit school awarded 183 diplomas to qualified bachelors’s social sciences students in 2019-2020.

Bowdoin not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #1 on our “Best Social Sciences Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Maine” list. It costs about $5,626 for maine bachelor’s degree social sciences students whose families make $0-$30k per year to attend Bowdoin.

Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 86%. The low student loan default rate of 1.4% 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%. The student-to-faculty ratio of 8 to 1 is a sign that students will have more opportunities to engage with their professors one-on-one.

Read full report on Social Sciences at Bowdoin

#5 in overall quality

Out of the 6 schools in the Best Value Social Sciences Schools for a Bachelor’s in Maine For Those Making $0-$30k that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Southern Maine landed the #4 spot on the list. University of Southern Maine is a medium-sized school located in Portland, Maine that handed out 167 bachelors’s social sciences degrees in 2019-2020.

University of Southern Maine not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #5 on our “Best Social Sciences Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Maine” list. It costs about $8,753 for Maine Bachelor’s Degree Social Sciences students whose families make $0-$30k per year to attend University of Southern Maine.

Full University of Southern Maine Social Sciences Report

#5

University of Maine

Orono, Maine
#4 in overall quality

Out of the 6 schools in the Best Value Social Sciences Schools for a Bachelor’s in Maine For Those Making $0-$30k that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Maine landed the #5 spot on the list. University of Maine is a fairly large school located in Orono, Maine that handed out 132 bachelors’s social sciences degrees in 2019-2020.

UMaine also made our “Best Social Sciences Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Maine” list, coming in at #4. The estimated yearly cost for University of Maine is $13,989 for maine bachelor’s degree social sciences students whose families make $0-$30k.

The student loan default rate at the school is 4.8%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

Read full report on Social Sciences at UMaine

#6 in overall quality

University of Maine at Augusta ranked #6 on this year’s Best Value Social Sciences Schools for a Bachelor’s in Maine For Those Making $0-$30k list. University of Maine at Augusta is a public institution located in Augusta, Maine. The school has a small population, and it awarded 5 bachelors’s degrees in 2019-2020.

UMA also made our “Best Social Sciences Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Maine” list, coming in at #6. It costs about $9,287 for maine bachelor’s degree social sciences students whose families make $0-$30k per year to attend UMA.

Full UMA Social Sciences 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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