2022 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Design & Applied Arts in Kentucky

With all of the options students have for higher education today, it can be tough to choose which direction to take. 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 Design Schools for a Bachelor’s in Kentucky” ranking is one tool we have developed to help in this regard.

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 Kentucky, there were 124 design and applied arts graduates with average earnings and debt of $35,700 and $27,430 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 63 design and applied arts graduates with average earnings and debt of $35,401 and $24,684 respectively.

This year’s “Best Value Design Schools for a Bachelor’s in Kentucky” ranking analyzed 3 colleges that offered a degree in design and applied arts. Not only do the schools that top this list have excellent design and applied arts 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 design and applied arts program at the school and the cost to attend the school once aid has been awarded. 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 Kentucky” ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.

You can create your own custom comparison that focuses on the factors most important to you using our tool, College Combat. 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 Design Schools for a Bachelor’s in Kentucky

The following schools top our list of the Best Best Value Design Schools for a Bachelor’s in Kentucky.

Top 3 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Design & Applied Arts in Kentucky

#1

University of Kentucky

Lexington, Kentucky

#1 in overall quality

$17,127 Average Net Price

$42,235 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of Kentucky. It ranked #1 on our 2022 Best Value Design Schools for a Bachelor’s in Kentucky list. UK is a public institution located in Lexington, Kentucky. The school has a large population, and it awarded 23 bachelors’s degrees in 2019-2020.

In addition to being on our kentucky bachelor’s degree design students list, UK has also earned the #1 rank in our “Best Design & Applied Arts Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Kentucky” ranking. It costs about $17,127 for Kentucky Bachelor’s Degree Design students per year to attend University of Kentucky.

Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 86%.

Full UK Design & Applied Arts Report

#2

Northern Kentucky University

Highland Heights, Kentucky

#3 in overall quality

$9,049 Average Net Price

$41,007 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Northern Kentucky University. The school came in at #2 for the Best Value Design Schools for a Bachelor’s in Kentucky. NKU is a public institution located in Highland Heights, Kentucky. The school has a fairly large population, and it awarded 13 bachelors’s degrees in 2019-2020.

NKU not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #3 on our “Best Design & Applied Arts Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Kentucky” list. The estimated yearly cost for NKU is $9,049 for Kentucky Bachelor’s Degree Design students.

Read more about Design & Applied Arts at Northern Kentucky University

#3

Bellarmine University

Louisville, Kentucky

#2 in overall quality

$23,121 Average Net Price

$32,711 Average Early-Career Earnings

Out of the 3 schools in the Best Value Design Schools for a Bachelor’s in Kentucky that were part of this year’s ranking, Bellarmine University landed the #3 spot on the list. Located in Louisville, Kentucky, this small private not-for-profit school handed out 13 diplomas to qualified bachelors’s design students in 2019-2020.

In addition to being on our kentucky bachelor’s degree design students list, Bellarmine U has also earned the #2 rank in our “Best Design & Applied Arts Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Kentucky” ranking. The yearly cost to attend Bellarmine University is $23,121 for Kentucky Bachelor’s Degree Design students.

Full Bellarmine University Design & Applied Arts Report

• Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Design & Applied Arts in the Southeast Region
• Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Design & Applied Arts

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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