2022 Best Value Design Schools for a Bachelor’s in Colorado For Those Making $0-$30k

When it comes to choosing a college, students have a lot of options - but not all of them are good. College Factual has developed its “Best Value Design Schools for a Bachelor’s in Colorado For Those Making $0-$30k” ranking as one item you can use to help make this decision.

Design & Applied Arts is the 34th most popular major in the country with 36,854 degrees awarded in 2019-2020. In 2017-2018, design and applied arts graduates who were awarded their degree in 2015-2017, earned an average of $29,542 and had an average of $27,114 in loans still to pay off.

Across Colorado, there were 347 design and applied arts graduates with average earnings and debt of $31,350 and $24,232 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 200 design and applied arts graduates with average earnings and debt of $38,261 and $25,672 respectively.

For this year’s “Best Value Design Schools for a Bachelor’s in Colorado For Those Making $0-$30k” ranking, we looked at 4 colleges that offer a degree in design and applied arts. The schools that top this list are recognized because they have great design and applied arts 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 design and applied arts program at the school and the cost of the school after aid is awarded among other things. Check out our ranking methodology for more information.

More Ways to Rank Design & Applied Arts Schools

Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we’ve developed the “Best Value Design Schools for a Bachelor’s in Colorado For Those Making $0-$30k” ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.

In addition to College Factual’s rankings, you may want to take a look at College Combat, our unique tool that lets you pit your favorite schools head-to-head and compare how they rate on factors that most interest you. Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.

Best Value Design Schools for a Bachelor’s in Colorado For Those Making $0-$30k

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

Top 4 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Design & Applied Arts (Income $0-$30k) in Colorado

#1

Metropolitan State University of Denver

Denver, Colorado

#2 in overall quality

$11,531 Average Net Price

$41,789 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Metropolitan State University of Denver. It ranked #1 on our 2022 Best Value Design Schools for a Bachelor’s in Colorado For Those Making $0-$30k list. MSU Denver is a fairly large school located in Denver, Colorado that handed out 45 bachelors’s design degrees in 2019-2020.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at MSU Denver, the school also landed the #2 spot in our “Best Design & Applied Arts Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Colorado” ranking. It costs about $11,531 for colorado bachelor’s degree design students whose families make $0-$30k per year to attend MSU Denver.

Full MSU Denver Design & Applied Arts Report

#2

Colorado Mesa University

Grand Junction, Colorado

#4 in overall quality

$12,708 Average Net Price

$31,305 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Colorado Mesa University. The school came in at #2 for the Best Value Design Schools for a Bachelor’s in Colorado For Those Making $0-$30k. Colorado Mesa is a public institution located in Grand Junction, Colorado. The school has a medium-sized population, and it awarded 19 bachelors’s degrees in 2019-2020.

Colorado Mesa also took the #4 spot in our “Best Design & Applied Arts Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Colorado” ranking. The yearly cost to attend Colorado Mesa University is $12,708 for colorado bachelor’s degree design students whose families make $0-$30k.

Read full report on Design & Applied Arts at Colorado Mesa University

#3

Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design

Lakewood, Colorado

#1 in overall quality

$23,752 Average Net Price

$29,374 Average Early-Career Earnings

Out of the 4 schools in the Best Value Design Schools for a Bachelor’s in Colorado For Those Making $0-$30k that were part of this year’s ranking, Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design landed the #3 spot on the list. This small school is located in Lakewood, Colorado, and it awarded 118 bachelors’s design degrees in 2019-2020.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at RMCAD, the school also landed the #1 spot in our “Best Design & Applied Arts Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Colorado” ranking. The yearly cost to attend Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design is $23,752 for Colorado Bachelor’s Degree Design students whose families make $0-$30k.

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 Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design Design & Applied Arts Report

#4

University of Denver

Denver, Colorado

#3 in overall quality

$19,659 Average Net Price

$14,442 Average Early-Career Earnings

Out of the 4 schools in the Best Value Design Schools for a Bachelor’s in Colorado For Those Making $0-$30k that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Denver landed the #4 spot on the list. Denver, Colorado is the setting for this fairly large institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out bachelors’s design degrees to 18 students in 2019-2020.

DU not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #3 on our “Best Design & Applied Arts Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Colorado” list. The yearly cost to attend DU is $19,659 for Colorado Bachelor’s Degree Design students whose families make $0-$30k.

The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 1.9%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.

Full DU Design & Applied Arts Report

• Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Design & Applied Arts (Income $0-$30k) in the Rocky Mountains Region
• Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Design & Applied Arts (Income $0-$30k)

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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