2022 Best Value Film Schools for a Bachelor’s in Virginia

When it comes to choosing a college, students have a lot of options - but not all of them are good. College Factual was founded, in part, to help students make the decision as to what would be the best school for them. Our “Best Value Film Schools for a Bachelor’s in Virginia” ranking is part of that endeavor.

Film, Video & Photographic Arts is the 64th most popular major in the country with 17,506 degrees awarded in 2019-2020. In 2017-2018, film, video and photographic arts graduates who were awarded their degree in 2015-2017, earned an average of $22,714 and had an average of $31,549 in loans still to pay off.

Across Virginia, there were 258 film, video and photographic arts graduates with average earnings and debt of $20,875 and $27,738 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 170 film, video and photographic arts graduates with average earnings and debt of $0 and $0 respectively.

This year’s “Best Value Film Schools for a Bachelor’s in Virginia” ranking looked at 4 colleges that offer degrees in a bachelor’s in film, video and photographic arts. Not only do the schools that top this list have excellent film, video and photographic arts programs, but they also cost less that schools of similar quality.

Some of the factors we look at when determining these rankings are overall quality of the film, video and photographic arts program at the school and the cost of the school after aid is awarded among other things. See our ranking methodology to learn more.

One Size Does Not Fit All

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

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 Film Schools for a Bachelor’s in Virginia

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

Top 4 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Film, Video & Photographic Arts in Virginia

#1

Virginia Commonwealth University

Richmond, Virginia

#1 in overall quality

$22,021 Average Net Price

$27,126 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Virginia Commonwealth University. The school came in at #1 for the Best Value Film Schools for a Bachelor’s in Virginia. Located in Richmond, Virginia, this large public school handed out 69 diplomas to qualified bachelors’s film students in 2019-2020.

VCU also took the #1 spot in our “Best Film, Video & Photographic Arts Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Virginia” ranking. The yearly cost to attend Virginia Commonwealth University is $22,021 for virginia bachelor’s degree film students.

The student loan default rate at the school is 4.5%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

Full VCU Film, Video & Photographic Arts Report

#2

George Mason University

Fairfax, Virginia

#2 in overall quality

$21,048 Average Net Price

$19,683 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend George Mason University. It ranked #2 on our 2022 Best Value Film Schools for a Bachelor’s in Virginia list. Fairfax, Virginia is the setting for this large institution of higher learning. The public school handed out bachelors’s film degrees to 45 students in 2019-2020.

GMU also made our “Best Film, Video & Photographic Arts Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Virginia” list, coming in at #2. The estimated yearly cost for GMU is $21,048 for virginia bachelor’s degree film students.

With a freshman retention rate of 86%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students. The student loan default rate at the school is 2.6%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

Read full report on Film, Video & Photographic Arts at George Mason University

#3

Liberty University

Lynchburg, Virginia

#4 in overall quality

$28,903 Average Net Price

$22,268 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Liberty University. The school came in at #3 for the Best Value Film Schools for a Bachelor’s in Virginia. This large school is located in Lynchburg, Virginia, and it awarded 45 bachelors’s film degrees in 2019-2020.

In addition to being on our virginia bachelor’s degree film students list, Liberty University has also earned the #4 rank in our “Best Film, Video & Photographic Arts Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Virginia” ranking. It costs about $28,903 for Virginia Bachelor’s Degree Film students per year to attend Liberty University.

Read more about Film, Video & Photographic Arts at Liberty University

#4

Hollins University

Roanoke, Virginia

#3 in overall quality

$20,603 Average Net Price

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Hollins University. The school came in at #4 for the Best Value Film Schools for a Bachelor’s in Virginia. Hollins is a private not-for-profit institution located in Roanoke, Virginia. The school has a small population, and it awarded 8 bachelors’s degrees in 2019-2020.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at Hollins, the school also landed the #3 spot in our “Best Film, Video & Photographic Arts Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Virginia” ranking. It costs about $20,603 for Virginia Bachelor’s Degree Film students per year to attend Hollins University.

The student-to-faculty ratio of 9 to 1 is a sign that students will have more opportunities to engage with their professors one-on-one. The low student loan default rate of 4.1% 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 Film, Video & Photographic Arts at Hollins

• Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Film, Video & Photographic Arts in the Southeast Region
• Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Film, Video & Photographic 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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