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2022 Best Value Music Schools for a Bachelor’s in Iowa

10 Ranked Colleges
219 Degrees Awarded
$22,600 Avg Net Price*
Best Value Music Schools for a Bachelor's in Iowa

When pursuing a degree in today’s world, students have many different options to choose from. College Factual has developed its “Best Value Music Schools for a Bachelor’s in Iowa” ranking as one item you can use to help make this decision.

Music is the 40th most popular major in the country with 27,047 degrees awarded in 2019-2020. In 2017-2018, music graduates who were awarded their degree in 2015-2017, earned an average of $25,639 and had an average of $28,653 in loans still to pay off.

Across Iowa, there were 285 music graduates with average earnings and debt of $33,400 and $28,465 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 219 music graduates with average earnings and debt of $39,922 and $25,876 respectively.

This year’s “Best Value Music Schools for a Bachelor’s in Iowa” ranking analyzed 10 colleges that offered a degree in music. This ranking identifies schools with high-quality music programs that also have a lower cost than 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 music program at the school. Check out our ranking methodology for more information.

More Ways to Rank Music Schools

The music school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we’ve developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of “Best Value Music Schools for a Bachelor’s in Iowa”.

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 Music Schools for a Bachelor’s in Iowa

The colleges and universities below are the best for iowa bachelor’s degree music students.

Top 10 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Music in Iowa

#1

University of Northern Iowa

Cedar Falls, Iowa

Out of the 10 schools in the Best Value Music Schools for a Bachelor’s in Iowa that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Northern Iowa landed the #1 spot on the list. Located in Cedar Falls, Iowa, this medium-sized public school awarded 26 degrees to qualified bachelors’s music students in 2019-2020.

In addition to being on our iowa bachelor’s degree music students list, UNI has also earned the #3 rank in our “Best Music Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Iowa” ranking. It costs about $15,620 for Iowa Bachelor’s Degree Music students per year to attend University of Northern Iowa.

The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 86%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year. The low student loan default rate of 3.6% 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%.

Full UNI Music Report

#5 in overall quality

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Iowa State University. The school came in at #2 for the Best Value Music Schools for a Bachelor’s in Iowa. Iowa State University is located in Ames, Iowa and, has a large student population. In 2019-2020, this school awarded 8 bachelors’s music degrees to qualified students.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at Iowa State, the school also landed the #5 spot in our “Best Music Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Iowa” ranking. It costs about $15,496 for Iowa Bachelor’s Degree Music students per year to attend Iowa State University.

The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 3.3%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 89%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.

Full Iowa State University Music Report

#3

University of Iowa

Iowa City, Iowa

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of Iowa. The school came in at #3 for the Best Value Music Schools for a Bachelor’s in Iowa. Iowa is a large school located in Iowa City, Iowa that handed out 46 bachelors’s music degrees in 2019-2020.

Iowa also made our “Best Music Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Iowa” list, coming in at #4. The estimated yearly cost for University of Iowa is $19,145 for iowa bachelor’s degree music students.

Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 88%. The student loan default rate at the school is 3.5%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

Read full report on Music at University of Iowa

#4

Clarke University

Dubuque, Iowa
#6 in overall quality

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Clarke University. The school came in at #4 for the Best Value Music Schools for a Bachelor’s in Iowa. Clarke is a small school located in Dubuque, Iowa that handed out 1 bachelors’s music degrees in 2019-2020.

In addition to being on our iowa bachelor’s degree music students list, Clarke has also earned the #6 rank in our “Best Music Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Iowa” ranking. It costs about $34,204 for Iowa Bachelor’s Degree Music students per year to attend Clarke.

Since the school has a student-to-faculty ratio of 8 to 1, those pursuing a degree will have more opportunities to interact with their professors. The low student loan default rate of 4.6% 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 full report on Music at Clarke

#5

Grand View University

Des Moines, Iowa
#9 in overall quality

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Grand View University. The school came in at #5 for the Best Value Music Schools for a Bachelor’s in Iowa. Des Moines, Iowa is the setting for this small institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out bachelors’s music degrees to 1 students in 2019-2020.

Grand View University also made our “Best Music Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Iowa” list, coming in at #9. The estimated yearly cost for Grand View University is $19,826 for Iowa Bachelor’s Degree Music students.

Full Grand View University Music Report

#6

Luther College

Decorah, Iowa

Luther College came in at #6 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Music Schools for a Bachelor’s in Iowa ranking. Luther is a small private not-for-profit school situated in Decorah, Iowa. It awarded 52 bachelors’s music degrees in 2019-2020.

Luther did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #1 on our “Best Music Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Iowa” list. It costs about $23,620 for iowa bachelor’s degree music students per year to attend Luther College.

The student loan default rate at the school is 2.2%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

Full Luther College Music Report

#7

Saint Ambrose University

Davenport, Iowa
#10 in overall quality

Saint Ambrose University landed the #7 spot on the 2022 Best Value Music Schools for a Bachelor’s in Iowa ranking. Davenport, Iowa is the setting for this small institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out bachelors’s music degrees to 1 students in 2019-2020.

St. Ambrose University did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #10 on our “Best Music Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Iowa” list. The estimated yearly cost for Saint Ambrose University is $26,204 for Iowa Bachelor’s Degree Music students.

Read more about Music at St. Ambrose University

#8

Drake University

Des Moines, Iowa
#2 in overall quality

Drake University came in at #8 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Music Schools for a Bachelor’s in Iowa ranking. Des Moines, Iowa is the setting for this small institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out bachelors’s music degrees to 17 students in 2019-2020.

Drake not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #2 on our “Best Music Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Iowa” list. The yearly cost to attend Drake University is $29,432 for Iowa Bachelor’s Degree Music students.

The student loan default rate at the school is 2.2%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%. Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 86%. Since the school has a student-to-faculty ratio of 10 to 1, those pursuing a degree will have more opportunities to interact with their professors.

Read full report on Music at Drake

#9

Coe College

Cedar Rapids, Iowa
#8 in overall quality

Coe College landed the #9 spot on the 2022 Best Value Music Schools for a Bachelor’s in Iowa ranking. Located in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, this small private not-for-profit school handed out 9 diplomas to qualified bachelors’s music students in 2019-2020.

Coe not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #8 on our “Best Music Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Iowa” list. It costs about $19,955 for iowa bachelor’s degree music students per year to attend Coe.

The low student loan default rate of 3.1% 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%.

Full Coe College Music Report

#10

Grinnell College

Grinnell, Iowa
#7 in overall quality

With a ranking of #10, Grinnell College did quite well on the 2022 Best Value Music Schools for a Bachelor’s in Iowa list. Grinnell College is a small private not-for-profit school situated in Grinnell, Iowa. It awarded 10 bachelors’s music degrees in 2019-2020.

Grinnell not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #7 on our “Best Music Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Iowa” list. It costs about $22,486 for iowa bachelor’s degree music students per year to attend Grinnell College.

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%. The student-to-faculty ratio of 8 to 1 is a sign that students will have more opportunities to engage with their professors one-on-one.

Read full report on Music at Grinnell College

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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