2023 Best Value Social Work Schools in Virginia For Those Making $0-$30k
9
Ranked Colleges
1,010
Degrees Awarded
$16,400
Avg Net Price*
With all of the options students have for higher education today, it can be tough to choose which direction to take. At College Factual, we’re committed to helping you make that decision by providing information such as that found in our “Best Value Social Work Schools in Virginia For Those Making $0-$30k” ranking.
In 2020-2021, 58,326 people earned their degree in social work, making the major the 13th most popular in the United States. In 2019-2020, social work graduates who were awarded their degree in 2017-2019, earned an average of $37,651 and had an average of $26,679 in loans still to pay off.
Across Virginia, there were 1,010 social work graduates with average earnings and debt of $36,341 and $29,240 respectively.
For this year’s “Best Value Social Work Schools in Virginia For Those Making $0-$30k” ranking, we looked at 9 colleges that offer a degree in social work. Not only do the schools that top this list have excellent social work 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 social work program at the school and the cost to attend the school once aid has been awarded. For more information, check out our ranking methodology.
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 Work Schools in Virginia For Those Making $0-$30k” list to help you make the college decision.
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. 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 Work Schools in Virginia For Those Making $0-$30k
The following schools top our list of the Best Best Value Social Work Schools in Virginia For Those Making $0-$30k.
Top 9 Best Value Colleges for Social Work (Income $0-$30k) in Virginia
Out of the 9 schools in the Best Value Social Work Schools in Virginia For Those Making $0-$30k that were part of this year’s ranking, Virginia Commonwealth University landed the #1 spot on the list. VCU is a public institution located in Richmond, Virginia. The school has a large population, and it awarded 307 ’s degrees in 2020-2021.
In addition to being on our virginia social work students whose families make $0-$30k list, VCU has also earned the #1 rank in our “Best Social Work Schools in Virginia” ranking. It costs about $14,507 for Virginia Social Work students whose families make $0-$30k per year to attend Virginia Commonwealth University.
The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 2.6%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.
Read more about Social Work at Virginia Commonwealth University
Out of the 9 schools in the Best Value Social Work Schools in Virginia For Those Making $0-$30k that were part of this year’s ranking, James Madison University landed the #2 spot on the list. JMU is a large public school situated in Harrisonburg, Virginia. It awarded 57 ’s social work degrees in 2020-2021.
JMU also took the #3 spot in our “Best Social Work Schools in Virginia” ranking. The yearly cost to attend James Madison University is $14,288 for Virginia Social Work students whose families make $0-$30k.
The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 2.0%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 89%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.
Full JMU Social Work Report
You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend George Mason University. It ranked #3 on our 2023 Best Value Social Work Schools in Virginia For Those Making $0-$30k list. Located in Fairfax, Virginia, this large public school awarded 128 degrees to qualified ’s social work students in 2020-2021.
GMU not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #2 on our “Best Social Work Schools in Virginia” list. The estimated yearly cost for GMU is $14,781 for virginia social work students whose families make $0-$30k.
The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 2.5%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 86%.
Read more about Social Work at George Mason University
You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Radford University. The school came in at #4 for the Best Value Social Work Schools in Virginia For Those Making $0-$30k. This medium-sized school is located in Radford, Virginia, and it awarded 92 ’s social work degrees in 2020-2021.
Radford did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #5 on our “Best Social Work Schools in Virginia” list. The yearly cost to attend Radford University is $11,420 for Virginia Social Work students whose families make $0-$30k.
Full Radford University Social Work Report
You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Norfolk State University. It ranked #5 on our 2023 Best Value Social Work Schools in Virginia For Those Making $0-$30k list. Norfolk State University is a medium-sized school located in Norfolk, Virginia that handed out 91 ’s social work degrees in 2020-2021.
Norfolk State also made our “Best Social Work Schools in Virginia” list, coming in at #7. It costs about $14,013 for virginia social work students whose families make $0-$30k per year to attend Norfolk State.
Read more about Social Work at Norfolk State
Christopher Newport University ranked #6 on this year’s Best Value Social Work Schools in Virginia For Those Making $0-$30k list. Located in Newport News, Virginia, this small public school handed out 22 degrees to qualified ’s social work students in 2020-2021.
CNU not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #6 on our “Best Social Work Schools in Virginia” list. It costs about $15,862 for virginia social work students whose families make $0-$30k per year to attend Christopher Newport University.
With a freshman retention rate of 87%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its undergraduate students. The low undergrad student loan default rate of 0.9% 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 Social Work at Christopher Newport University
Mary Baldwin University landed the #7 spot on the 2023 Best Value Social Work Schools in Virginia For Those Making $0-$30k ranking. Staunton, Virginia is the setting for this small institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out ’s social work degrees to 25 students in 2020-2021.
Mary Baldwin also made our “Best Social Work Schools in Virginia” list, coming in at #8. The estimated yearly cost for Mary Baldwin is $16,899 for Virginia Social Work students whose families make $0-$30k.
Read full report on Social Work at Mary Baldwin University
With a ranking of #8, Virginia State University did quite well on the 2023 Best Value Social Work Schools in Virginia For Those Making $0-$30k list. Virginia State University is located in Petersburg, Virginia and, has a small student population. In 2020-2021, this school awarded 35 ’s social work degrees to qualified students.
In addition to being on our virginia social work students whose families make $0-$30k list, Virginia State has also earned the #9 rank in our “Best Social Work Schools in Virginia” ranking. It costs about $15,823 for Virginia Social Work students whose families make $0-$30k per year to attend Virginia State University.
Read more about Social Work at Virginia State
Liberty University did quite well in the 2023 Best Value Social Work Schools in Virginia For Those Making $0-$30k ranking, coming in at #9. Liberty University is a large private not-for-profit school situated in Lynchburg, Virginia. It awarded 192 ’s social work degrees in 2020-2021.
Liberty University not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #4 on our “Best Social Work Schools in Virginia” list. The estimated yearly cost for Liberty University is $29,786 for virginia social work students whose families make $0-$30k.
Read more about Social Work at Liberty University
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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
- *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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