2023 Most Veteran Friendly in Virginia for Education
9
Ranked Colleges
918
Degrees Awarded
$33,500
Avg Cost*
When it comes to choosing a college, veterans have a lot of options - but not all of them are good. At College Factual, we’re committed to helping you make that decision by providing information such as that found in our “Most Veteran Friendly in Virginia for Education” ranking.
In 2020-2021, 29,810 people earned their degree in general education, making the major the 41st most popular in the United States. 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 “Most Veteran Friendly in Virginia for Education” 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 offer a lot of support to veterans and active service members.
Some of the factors we look at when determining these rankings are overall quality of the general education program at the school, veteran affordability, and veteran population. Check out our ranking methodology for more information.
More Ways to Rank General Education Schools
The education 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 “Most Veteran Friendly in Virginia for Education”.
We’ve created a tool called College Combat that lets you create your own customized comparisons based on the factors that matter the most to you. Test it out when you get a chance! You may also want to bookmark the link and share it with others who are trying to make the college decision.
Most Veteran Friendly in Virginia for Education
The colleges and universities below are the best for virginia vets studying education.
Top 9 Best General Education Colleges for Veterans in Virginia
Out of the 9 schools in the Most Veteran Friendly in Virginia for Education that were part of this year’s ranking, Virginia Commonwealth University landed the #1 spot on the list. This large school is located in Richmond, Virginia, and it awarded 116 ’s education degrees in 2020-2021.
VCU also took the #[COLLEGE_QUALITY_RANK_ALL_LEVELS] spot in our “[COLLEGE_QUALITY_NAME_ALL_LEVELS]” ranking.Our most recent data shows that 1 of the 29,070 students enrolled at VCU were GI Bill® students, of which 2 were Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients. The average tuition and fees award for the Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients was $13,085. On top of their other funding sources, 0 students received funds through the Yellow Ribbon Program. Students may be able to receive credit for their military training, depending on their background.
The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only [DEFAULT_RATE_STRING]%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.
Read More…
You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend James Madison University. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Most Veteran Friendly in Virginia for Education list. Harrisonburg, Virginia is the setting for this large institution of higher learning. The public school handed out ’s education degrees to 295 students in 2020-2021.
JMU not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #[COLLEGE_QUALITY_RANK_ALL_LEVELS] on our “[COLLEGE_QUALITY_NAME_ALL_LEVELS]” list.Our most recent data shows that 842 of the 21,594 students enrolled at JMU were GI Bill® students, of which 464 were Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients. The average Post-9/11 GI Bill® award for tuition and fees at the school was $5,824. To help with additional expenses, 3 students qualified for the Yellow Ribbon Program. Students may be able to receive credit for their military training, depending on their background.
Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 89%. The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only [DEFAULT_RATE_STRING]%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.
Full James Madison University Veteran Student Life Report
Out of the 9 schools in the Most Veteran Friendly in Virginia for Education that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Virginia - Main Campus landed the #3 spot on the list. University of Virginia is a large public school situated in Charlottesville, Virginia. It awarded 159 ’s education degrees in 2020-2021.
As a testament to the quality of education offered at University of Virginia, the school also landed the #[COLLEGE_QUALITY_RANK_ALL_LEVELS] spot in our “[COLLEGE_QUALITY_NAME_ALL_LEVELS]” ranking.Our most recent data shows that 3 of the 25,628 students enrolled at University of Virginia were GI Bill® students, of which 0 were Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients. The average Post-9/11 GI Bill® award for tuition and fees at the school was $0. To help with additional expenses, 0 students received scholarships through the Yellow Ribbon Program.
The low undergrad student loan default rate of [DEFAULT_RATE_STRING]% 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 97%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.
[Read full report on veteran student life at University of Virginia]](/colleges/university-of-virginia-main-campus/student-life/veterans/)
Out of the 9 schools in the Most Veteran Friendly in Virginia for Education that were part of this year’s ranking, Liberty University landed the #4 spot on the list. Lynchburg, Virginia is the setting for this large institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out ’s education degrees to 93 students in 2020-2021.
Liberty University also took the #[COLLEGE_QUALITY_RANK_ALL_LEVELS] spot in our “[COLLEGE_QUALITY_NAME_ALL_LEVELS]” ranking.Our most recent data shows that 13,282 of the 93,349 students enrolled at Liberty University were GI Bill® students, of which 8,897 were Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients. The average Post-9/11 GI Bill® award for tuition and fees at the school was $4,888. During this same period, 386 students qualified for the Yellow Ribbon Program. Students may be able to receive credit for their military training, depending on their background.
Read More…
You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend George Mason University. It ranked #5 on our 2023 Most Veteran Friendly in Virginia for Education list. GMU is a large public school situated in Fairfax, Virginia. It awarded 27 ’s education degrees in 2020-2021.
GMU also made our “[COLLEGE_QUALITY_NAME_ALL_LEVELS]” list, coming in at #[COLLEGE_QUALITY_RANK_ALL_LEVELS].Among the 38,541 students enrolled at George Mason University, 2,334 are GI Bill® students, according to our most recent data. Out of that number, 1,583 were Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients. The average Post-9/11 GI Bill® award for tuition and fees at the school was $10,710. During this same period, 42 students received funds through the Yellow Ribbon Program. George Mason University offers credit for military training for eligible students.
The low undergrad student loan default rate of [DEFAULT_RATE_STRING]% 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%. Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 86%.
Read More…
Longwood University landed the #6 spot on the 2023 Most Veteran Friendly in Virginia for Education ranking. Located in Farmville, Virginia, this small public school handed out 75 degrees to qualified ’s education students in 2020-2021.
As a testament to the quality of education offered at Longwood, the school also landed the #[COLLEGE_QUALITY_RANK_ALL_LEVELS] spot in our “[COLLEGE_QUALITY_NAME_ALL_LEVELS]” ranking.Of the 4,841 students enrolled at Longwood, 1 were GI Bill® students, according to our most recent data. Out of that number, 0 were Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients. The average tuition and fees award for the Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients was $0. During this same period, 0 students received funds through the Yellow Ribbon Program. Longwood does offer credit for military training for eligible students.
The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is [DEFAULT_RATE_STRING]%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.
[Read full report on veteran student life at Longwood University]](/colleges/longwood-university/student-life/veterans/)
Radford University came in at #7 in this year’s edition of the Most Veteran Friendly in Virginia for Education ranking. Radford is a public institution located in Radford, Virginia. The school has a medium-sized population, and it awarded 38 ’s degrees in 2020-2021.
In addition to being on our virginia vets studying education list, Radford has also earned the #[COLLEGE_QUALITY_RANK_ALL_LEVELS] rank in our “[COLLEGE_QUALITY_NAME_ALL_LEVELS]” ranking.Of the 10,695 students enrolled at Radford University, 460 were GI Bill® students, according to our most recent data. Out of that number, 225 were Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients. The average tuition and fees award for the Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients was $8,142. During this same period, 0 students qualified for the Yellow Ribbon Program. Eligible students may be able to receive credit for their military training.
Full Radford Veteran Student Life Report
University of Mary Washington landed the #8 spot on the 2023 Most Veteran Friendly in Virginia for Education ranking. This small school is located in Fredericksburg, Virginia, and it awarded 75 ’s education degrees in 2020-2021.
UMW did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #[COLLEGE_QUALITY_RANK_ALL_LEVELS] on our “[COLLEGE_QUALITY_NAME_ALL_LEVELS]” list.Among the 4,293 students enrolled at UMW, 47 are GI Bill® students, according to our most recent data. Out of that number, 39 were Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients. The average tuition and fees award for the Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients was $5,578. On top of their other funding sources, 0 students received funds through the Yellow Ribbon Program. Students may be able to receive credit for their military training, depending on their background.
The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is [DEFAULT_RATE_STRING]%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.
Read More…
With a ranking of #9, Shenandoah University did quite well on the 2023 Most Veteran Friendly in Virginia for Education list. Shenandoah University is a small school located in Winchester, Virginia that handed out 24 ’s education degrees in 2020-2021.
Shenandoah also made our “[COLLEGE_QUALITY_NAME_ALL_LEVELS]” list, coming in at #[COLLEGE_QUALITY_RANK_ALL_LEVELS].Our most recent data shows that 222 of the 4,174 students enrolled at Shenandoah were GI Bill® students, of which 133 were Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients. The average tuition and fees award for the Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients was $16,576. To help with additional expenses, 36 students received scholarships through the Yellow Ribbon Program. Eligible students may be able to receive credit for their military training.
The low undergrad student loan default rate of [DEFAULT_RATE_STRING]% 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%. 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.
[Read full report on veteran student life at Shenandoah]](/colleges/shenandoah-university/student-life/veterans/)
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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).
- Veteran-specific data can be found at the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs.
- 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
- *Avg Salary and Avg 4-Year Grad Rate are for the top schools only.
- **GI Bill® student total includes all chapters of the GI Bill® program (e.g., Post-9/11, Montgomery GI Bill, Reserve Education Assistance Program, and Veteran Readiness and Employment)
- 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.
Credits
- Credit for the banner image above goes to KOKUYO.