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2024 Best Value Colleges for Design & Applied Arts in Colorado

4 Ranked Colleges
352 Degrees Awarded
$19,200 Avg Net Price*
Best Value Design Schools in Colorado

When it comes to choosing a college, students have a lot of options - but not all of them are good. 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 Colorado” ranking - to help you make that decision.

In 2020-2021, 36,301 people earned their degree in design & applied arts, making the major the 36th most popular in the United States. 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 Colorado, there were 352 design & applied arts graduates with average earnings and debt of $33,924 and $31,095 respectively.

For this year’s “Best Value Design Schools in Colorado” ranking, we looked at 4 colleges that offer a degree 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.

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 design & applied arts program at the school. Check out our ranking methodology for more information.

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Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we’ve developed a number of rankings, including this “Best Value Design Schools in Colorado” list, to help you choose the best school for you.

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 Colorado

The colleges and universities below are the best for colorado design students.

Top 4 Best Value Colleges for Design & Applied Arts in Colorado

1
Arapahoe Community College crest
Arapahoe Community College
Littleton, Colorado

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Arapahoe Community College. The school came in at #1 for the Best Value Design Schools in Colorado. Arapahoe Community College is a public institution located in Littleton, Colorado. The school has a fairly large population, and it awarded 59 ’s degrees in 2020-2021.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at Arapahoe Community College, the school also landed the #3 spot in our “Best Design & Applied Arts Schools in Colorado” ranking. It costs about $10,265 for Colorado Design students per year to attend Arapahoe Community College.

Read full report on Design & Applied Arts at Arapahoe Community College

2

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design. It ranked #2 on our 2024 Best Value Design Schools in Colorado list. Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design is a small school located in Lakewood, Colorado that handed out 117 ’s design degrees in 2020-2021.

RMCAD not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #2 on our “Best Design & Applied Arts Schools in Colorado” list. The yearly cost to attend RMCAD is $18,533 for colorado design students.

With a undergrad student-to-faculty ratio of 10 to 1, it’s easy to see that the school is committed to helping their undergraduates succeed.

Full RMCAD Design & Applied Arts Report

3

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Metropolitan State University of Denver. The school came in at #3 for the Best Value Design Schools in Colorado. Metropolitan State University of Denver is a fairly large school located in Denver, Colorado that handed out 56 ’s design degrees in 2020-2021.

MSU Denver also took the #4 spot in our “Best Design & Applied Arts Schools in Colorado” ranking. The yearly cost to attend MSU Denver is $14,313 for colorado design students.

Read full report on Design & Applied Arts at MSU Denver

4
DU crest
University of Denver
Denver, Colorado

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of Denver. The school came in at #4 for the Best Value Design Schools in Colorado. Located in Denver, Colorado, this fairly large private not-for-profit school awarded 31 degrees to qualified ’s design students in 2020-2021.

DU not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #1 on our “Best Design & Applied Arts Schools in Colorado” list. The estimated yearly cost for DU is $33,830 for Colorado Design students.

Since the school has a undergrad student-to-faculty ratio of 10 to 1, those pursuing a degree will have more opportunities to interact with their professors. The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is 1.6%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

Read full report on Design & Applied Arts at University of Denver

Notes and References

References

Read more about our data sources and methodologies

Footnotes

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