2021 Best Colleges for the Money (With No Aid) in District of Columbia
Choosing which college to attend may be one of the most important decisions in your life. One of our goals at College Factual is to give you as much information as we can - such as our Best District of Columbia Schools For The Money For Those With No Aid ranking - to help you make that decision.
We analyzed 7 colleges and universities to determine which were the best for overall value for the money with no aid in District of Columbia. This ranking doesn't just identify the colleges with the lowest costs. Rather, it highlights those institutions that offer excellent educational experiences for a lower cost than other schools of roughly the same caliber. Thus, one college may rank better than another, but the second school could have a lower average cost.
Learn more about our ranking methodology.
Our average cost calculation adds up all expenses, such as tuition, fees, room and board, books and supplies, and other expenses. So it is an approximation of how much you will have to pay out-of-pocket each year on average.
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Customizing Your List
Since one ranking on its own is not enough to give you a complete understanding of your educational options, you can refine this list by location and field of study. We've also developed a number of other tools and rankings based on other factors. These other rankings highlight colleges that excel in other factors such as overall quality or diversity as well as schools that excel in serving different groups of students such as veterans or returnings adults.
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!
Top Colleges for the Money (Without Aid) in District of Columbia
Learn more about these excellent schools below:
Howard University tops this year’s ranking as the best school for overall value for the money with no aid in District of Columbia. Howard is a medium-sized private not-for-profit school situated in Washington, District of Columbia. It awarded 1,353 bachelor’s degrees in 2018-2019.
It takes about 4.3 years for the average student at Howard to complete their degree, and it costs students who receive no aid about $45,971 per year to attend the school. Putting this cost and the average time to graduate together, we find that the average amount you’ll pay to get a bachelor’s degree from Howard is $197,675. When students graduate in a lesser amount of time, they can save thousands of dollars.
The impressive student-to-faculty rate of 8 to 1 means that students may have more opportunities to work more closely with their professors than they would at other schools. Howard also made our Best Colleges in District of Columbia list, coming in at #5.
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A rank of #2 on our Best Colleges for the Money in District of Columbia list means Gallaudet University is a great place for students working on their bachelor’s degree. Gallaudet is located in Washington, District of Columbia and has a small student population. In 2018-2019, this school awarded 200 bachelor’s degrees to qualified undergradutates.
At Gallaudet, the average time it takes a student to graduate is 4.5 years, and the average full-time cost to attend the school for students who receive no aid is around $39,166. Thus, the average cost to get a bachelor’s degree from the Gallaudet is $177,814. When students graduate in a lesser amount of time, they can save thousands of dollars.
Since the school has a student-to-faculty rate of 7 to 1, those pursuing a bachelor’s degree will have more opportunities to interact with their professors.
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The excellent bachelor’s degree programs at Georgetown University helped the school earn the #3 place on this year’s ranking of the best schools for the money in District of Columbia. This fairly large private not-for-profit school is located in Washington, District of Columbia, and it awarded 2,169 bachelor’s degrees in 2018-2019.
At Georgetown, the average time it takes a student to graduate is 4.1 years, and on average, the annual cost to attend the school is $76,280 for students who receive no aid. Putting this cost and the average time to graduate together, we find that the average amount you’ll pay to get a bachelor’s degree from Georgetown is $309,697. When you graduate sooner, you can save a lot of money.
The student loan default rate at the school is 1.2%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%. Georgetown also made our Best Colleges in District of Columbia list, coming in at #1.
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You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend George Washington University. It ranked #4 on our 2021 Best Value Colleges in District of Columbia list. GWU is located in Washington, District of Columbia and has a large student population. In 2018-2019, this school awarded 3,447 bachelor’s degrees to qualified undergradutates.
The average student at GWU graduates in less than 4.1 years, and the estimated yearly cost for the school is $71,763 for students who receive no aid. This means that the average student pays around $296,381 to get a bachelor’s degree from GWU. When students graduate in a lesser amount of time, they can save thousands of dollars.
The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 1.9%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. GWU also made our Best Colleges in District of Columbia list, coming in at #2.
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You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Catholic University of America. The school came in at #5 in District of Columbia on this year’s best value ranking. Located in Washington, District of Columbia, the medium-sized private not-for-profit school awarded 830 diplomas to qualifed bachelor’s degree students in 2018-2019.
At CUA, the average time it takes a student to graduate is 4.1 years, and the average full-time cost to attend the school for students who receive no aid is around $67,156. Thus, the average cost to get a bachelor’s degree from the CUA is $276,683. If you can shave even one term off your degree, you can save a substantial amount of money.
The student loan default rate at the school is 2.5%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%. In addition to its best value ranking, and one of the reasons why the school is on the list, CUA is ranked #4 for overall quality in District of Columbia.
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American University ranked #6 on this year’s Best Colleges for the Money in District of Columbia list. Located in Washington, District of Columbia, the fairly large private not-for-profit school awarded 1,952 diplomas to qualifed bachelor’s degree students in 2018-2019.
The average amount of time it takes for a student to receive their degree at The American University is 4.6 years, and the estimated yearly cost for the school is $67,694 for students who receive no aid. When we combine these numbers, we estimate that the cost to get a bachelor’s degree from The American University is $312,069. The sooner a student graduates, the more money they can save.
The student loan default rate at the school is 1.8%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%. The American University also took the #3 spot in our Best Colleges in District of Columbia rankings.
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Trinity Washington University did quite well in the 2021 Best Value Colleges in District of Columbia ranking, coming in at #7. Trinity Washington University is a small private not-for-profit school located in Washington, District of Columbia that handed out 276 bachelor’s degrees in 2018-2019.
It takes the average student at Trinity College about 5.0 years to graduate, and the estimated yearly cost for the school is $38,670 for students who receive no aid. When we combine these numbers, we estimate that the cost to get a bachelor’s degree from Trinity College is $191,803. The sooner a student graduates, the more money they can save.
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Notes and References
Footnotes
*These averages are for the top 7 schools only.
- For our state-specific rankings, we use in-state tuition to calculate average cost. For our national and regional rankings, we use a weighted average of in-state and non-resident tuition.
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%.
More about our data sources and methodologies.
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