2023 Best Value Education Schools in Virginia For Those Getting Aid
9
Ranked Colleges
918
Degrees Awarded
$22,700
Avg Net Price*
When pursuing a degree in today’s world, students have many different options to choose from. 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 Education Schools in Virginia For Those Getting Aid” ranking is part of that endeavor.
General Education is the 41st most popular major in the country with 29,810 degrees awarded in 2020-2021. In 2019-2020, general education graduates who were awarded their degree in 2017-2019, earned an average of $48,719 and had an average of $23,394 in loans still to pay off.
Across Virginia, there were 918 general education graduates with average earnings and debt of $52,474 and $25,866 respectively.
This year’s “Best Value Education Schools in Virginia For Those Getting Aid” ranking looked at 9 colleges that offer degrees in a bachelor’s in general education. Not only do the schools that top this list have excellent general education 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 general education program at the school and the cost to attend the school once aid has been awarded. See our ranking methodology to learn more.
More Ways to Rank General Education Schools
When choosing the right school for you, it’s important to arm yourself with all the facts you can. To that end, we’ve created a number of major-specific rankings, including this “Best Value Education Schools in Virginia For Those Getting Aid” list to help you make the college 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. Test it out by comparing your favorite schools against others you are considering, or bookmark the tool so you can experiment with it later.
Best Value Education Schools in Virginia For Those Getting Aid
The following schools top our list of the Best Best Value Education Schools in Virginia For Those Getting Aid.
Top 9 Best Value Colleges for General Education in Virginia (With Aid)
You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of Virginia - Main Campus. It ranked #1 on our 2023 Best Value Education Schools in Virginia For Those Getting Aid list. University of Virginia - Main Campus is a large school located in Charlottesville, Virginia that handed out 159 ’s education degrees in 2020-2021.
In addition to being on our virginia education students with aid list, University of Virginia has also earned the #1 rank in our “Best General Education Schools in Virginia” ranking. The yearly cost to attend University of Virginia - Main Campus is $22,006 for virginia education students with aid.
With a freshman retention rate of 97%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its undergraduate students. The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 0.7%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.
Read more about General Education at University of Virginia
Out of the 9 schools in the Best Value Education Schools in Virginia For Those Getting Aid that were part of this year’s ranking, James Madison University landed the #2 spot on the list. Located in Harrisonburg, Virginia, this large public school handed out 295 diplomas to qualified ’s education students in 2020-2021.
As a testament to the quality of education offered at JMU, the school also landed the #2 spot in our “Best General Education Schools in Virginia” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for JMU is $22,562 for Virginia Education students with aid.
The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 89%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year. The low undergrad student loan default rate of 2.0% 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 General Education at James Madison University
You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Virginia Commonwealth University. The school came in at #3 for the Best Value Education Schools in Virginia For Those Getting Aid. Virginia Commonwealth University is a public institution located in Richmond, Virginia. The school has a large population, and it awarded 116 ’s degrees in 2020-2021.
VCU also took the #3 spot in our “Best General Education Schools in Virginia” ranking. The yearly cost to attend Virginia Commonwealth University is $20,490 for virginia education students with aid.
The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 2.6%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.
Full Virginia Commonwealth University General Education Report
You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Radford University. The school came in at #4 for the Best Value Education Schools in Virginia For Those Getting Aid. Radford is a medium-sized school located in Radford, Virginia that handed out 38 ’s education degrees in 2020-2021.
In addition to being on our virginia education students with aid list, Radford has also earned the #9 rank in our “Best General Education Schools in Virginia” ranking. It costs about $16,505 for Virginia Education students with aid per year to attend Radford.
Read full report on General Education at Radford
You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend George Mason University. The school came in at #5 for the Best Value Education Schools in Virginia For Those Getting Aid. Fairfax, Virginia is the setting for this large institution of higher learning. The public school handed out ’s education degrees to 27 students in 2020-2021.
GMU not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #4 on our “Best General Education Schools in Virginia” list. It costs about $19,551 for virginia education students with aid per year to attend George Mason University.
The low undergrad student loan default rate of 2.5% 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%. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 86%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.
Read more about General Education at George Mason University
Longwood University came in at #6 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Education Schools in Virginia For Those Getting Aid ranking. Longwood University is a public institution located in Farmville, Virginia. The school has a small population, and it awarded 75 ’s degrees in 2020-2021.
As a testament to the quality of education offered at Longwood, the school also landed the #8 spot in our “Best General Education Schools in Virginia” ranking. It costs about $19,545 for virginia education students with aid per year to attend Longwood University.
The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is 3.2%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.
Read full report on General Education at Longwood University
University of Mary Washington came in at #7 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Education Schools in Virginia For Those Getting Aid ranking. UMW is a small school located in Fredericksburg, Virginia that handed out 75 ’s education degrees in 2020-2021.
UMW did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #7 on our “Best General Education Schools in Virginia” list. It costs about $23,193 for Virginia Education students with aid per year to attend University of Mary Washington.
The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is 2.7%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.
Full UMW General Education Report
With a ranking of #8, Liberty University did quite well on the 2023 Best Value Education Schools in Virginia For Those Getting Aid list. Located in Lynchburg, Virginia, this large private not-for-profit school awarded 93 diplomas to qualified ’s education students in 2020-2021.
Liberty University not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #5 on our “Best General Education Schools in Virginia” list. It costs about $29,382 for virginia education students with aid per year to attend Liberty University.
Full Liberty University General Education Report
Shenandoah University ranked #9 on this year’s Best Value Education Schools in Virginia For Those Getting Aid list. Winchester, Virginia is the setting for this small institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out ’s education degrees to 24 students in 2020-2021.
In addition to being on our virginia education students with aid list, Shenandoah has also earned the #6 rank in our “Best General Education Schools in Virginia” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for Shenandoah University is $30,878 for Virginia Education students with aid.
The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is 3.6%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%. 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.
Full Shenandoah General Education Report
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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
- *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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