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2024 Best Value Colleges for Design & Applied Arts in District of Columbia

2 Ranked Colleges
84 Degrees Awarded
$36,300 Avg Net Price*
Best Value Design Schools in District of Columbia

When pursuing a degree in today’s world, students have many different options to choose from. One of our goals at College Factual is to give you as much information as we can - such as our “Best Value Design Schools in District of Columbia” ranking - to help you make that decision.

Design & Applied Arts is the 36th most popular major in the country with 36,301 degrees awarded in 2020-2021. In 2019-2020, design & applied arts graduates who were awarded their degree in 2017-2019, earned an average of $31,426 and had an average of $25,481 in loans still to pay off.

Across District of Columbia, there were 84 design & applied arts graduates with average earnings and debt of $46,751 and $0 respectively.

This year’s “Best Value Design Schools in District of Columbia” ranking looked at 2 colleges that offer degrees in a bachelor’s in design & applied arts. Not only do the schools that top this list have excellent design & 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 & applied arts program at the school and the cost to attend the school once aid has been awarded. For more information, check out our ranking methodology.

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Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we’ve developed the “Best Value Design Schools in District of Columbia” ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that 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. If you’re torn between two schools, you can use it to help you see how they stack up against one another. Bookmark it so you can compare any new schools that might interest you.

Best Value Design Schools in District of Columbia

The colleges and universities below are the best for district of columbia design students.

Top 2 Best Value Colleges for Design & Applied Arts in District of Columbia

1
The American University crest
American University
Washington, District of Columbia

Out of the 2 schools in the Best Value Design Schools in District of Columbia that were part of this year’s ranking, American University landed the #1 spot on the list. Located in Washington, District of Columbia, this fairly large private not-for-profit school awarded 25 degrees to qualified ’s design students in 2020-2021.

The American University also made our “Best Design & Applied Arts Schools in District of Columbia” list, coming in at #2. The estimated yearly cost for American University is $40,088 for District of Columbia Design students.

The low undergrad student loan default rate of 1.7% 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%. Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 90%.

Full American University Design & Applied Arts Report

2
GWU crest
George Washington University
Washington, District of Columbia

Out of the 2 schools in the Best Value Design Schools in District of Columbia that were part of this year’s ranking, George Washington University landed the #2 spot on the list. GWU is a large private not-for-profit school situated in Washington, District of Columbia. It awarded 47 ’s design degrees in 2020-2021.

GWU did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #1 on our “Best Design & Applied Arts Schools in District of Columbia” list. The yearly cost to attend George Washington University is $32,563 for district of columbia design students.

Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 91%. The low undergrad student loan default rate of 1.3% 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 Design & Applied Arts at George Washington University

Notes and References

References

Read more about our data sources and methodologies

Footnotes

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