2023 Best Value Colleges for General Engineering in Pennsylvania (With Aid)
8
Ranked Colleges
444
Degrees Awarded
$28,600
Avg Net Price*
Students have lots of options to chooose from today when trying to decide which college to attend. Our mission at College Factual is to arm you with as much information as we can to help you make that decision. Our “Best Value Engineering Schools in Pennsylvania For Those Getting Aid” ranking is one tool we have developed to help in this regard.
General Engineering is the 96th most popular major in the country with 9,018 degrees awarded in 2020-2021.
Across Pennsylvania, there were 444 general engineering graduates with average earnings and debt of $0 and $0 respectively.
This year’s “Best Value Engineering Schools in Pennsylvania For Those Getting Aid” ranking looked at 8 colleges that offer degrees in a bachelor’s in general engineering. Not only do the schools that top this list have excellent general engineering 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 engineering program at the school and the cost to attend the school once aid has been awarded. Check out our ranking methodology for more information.
More Ways to Rank General Engineering Schools
The engineering 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 Engineering Schools in Pennsylvania For Those Getting Aid”.
In addition to our rankings, you can take two colleges and compare them based on the criteria that matters most to you in our unique tool, College Combat. When you have some time, check it out - you may want to bookmark the link so you don’t forget it.
Best Value Engineering Schools in Pennsylvania For Those Getting Aid
The following schools top our list of the Best Best Value Engineering Schools in Pennsylvania For Those Getting Aid.
Top 8 Best Value Colleges for General Engineering in Pennsylvania (With Aid)
You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Swarthmore College. The school came in at #1 for the Best Value Engineering Schools in Pennsylvania For Those Getting Aid. Swarthmore, Pennsylvania is the setting for this small institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out ’s engineering degrees to 23 students in 2020-2021.
Swarthmore did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #3 on our “Best General Engineering Schools in Pennsylvania” list. The estimated yearly cost for Swarthmore is $20,813 for pennsylvania engineering students with aid.
Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 86%. The low undergrad student loan default rate of 0.7% 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%. With a undergrad student-to-faculty ratio of 7 to 1, it’s easy to see that the school is committed to helping their undergraduates succeed.
Read more about General Engineering at Swarthmore
You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Carnegie Mellon University. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Best Value Engineering Schools in Pennsylvania For Those Getting Aid list. Carnegie Mellon is located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and, has a fairly large student population. In 2020-2021, this school awarded 35 ’s engineering degrees to qualified students.
In addition to being on our pennsylvania engineering students with aid list, Carnegie Mellon has also earned the #1 rank in our “Best General Engineering Schools in Pennsylvania” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for Carnegie Mellon is $36,775 for pennsylvania engineering students with aid.
The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 96%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year. With a undergrad student-to-faculty ratio of 5 to 1, it’s easy to see that the school is committed to helping their undergraduates succeed. 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 Engineering at Carnegie Mellon
You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Geneva College. The school came in at #3 for the Best Value Engineering Schools in Pennsylvania For Those Getting Aid. Located in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, this small private not-for-profit school handed out 50 degrees to qualified ’s engineering students in 2020-2021.
In addition to being on our pennsylvania engineering students with aid list, Geneva has also earned the #5 rank in our “Best General Engineering Schools in Pennsylvania” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for Geneva is $19,179 for Pennsylvania Engineering students with aid.
The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 3.8%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.
Read full report on General Engineering at Geneva College
You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Lafayette College. It ranked #4 on our 2023 Best Value Engineering Schools in Pennsylvania For Those Getting Aid list. Lafayette College is a small private not-for-profit school situated in Easton, Pennsylvania. It awarded 19 ’s engineering degrees in 2020-2021.
Lafayette did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #4 on our “Best General Engineering Schools in Pennsylvania” list. It costs about $32,926 for Pennsylvania Engineering students with aid per year to attend Lafayette.
With a freshman retention rate of 87%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its undergraduate students. The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 0.3%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. Since the school has a undergrad student-to-faculty ratio of 9 to 1, those pursuing a degree will have more opportunities to interact with their professors.
Read full report on General Engineering at Lafayette College
Out of the 8 schools in the Best Value Engineering Schools in Pennsylvania For Those Getting Aid that were part of this year’s ranking, Temple University landed the #5 spot on the list. This large school is located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and it awarded 8 ’s engineering degrees in 2020-2021.
Temple also made our “Best General Engineering Schools in Pennsylvania” list, coming in at #6. The estimated yearly cost for Temple University is $23,888 for pennsylvania engineering students with aid.
The low undergrad student loan default rate of 3.5% 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 87%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.
Read full report on General Engineering at Temple
Villanova University did quite well in the 2023 Best Value Engineering Schools in Pennsylvania For Those Getting Aid ranking, coming in at #6. Located in Villanova, Pennsylvania, this fairly large private not-for-profit school handed out 18 degrees to qualified ’s engineering students in 2020-2021.
Villanova also made our “Best General Engineering Schools in Pennsylvania” list, coming in at #2. The yearly cost to attend Villanova University is $43,577 for pennsylvania engineering students with aid.
With a freshman retention rate of 96%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its undergraduate students. The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 0.9%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.
Full Villanova University General Engineering Report
With a ranking of #7, Messiah University did quite well on the 2023 Best Value Engineering Schools in Pennsylvania For Those Getting Aid list. Located in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, this small private not-for-profit school handed out 55 degrees to qualified ’s engineering students in 2020-2021.
In addition to being on our pennsylvania engineering students with aid list, Messiah has also earned the #7 rank in our “Best General Engineering Schools in Pennsylvania” ranking. It costs about $26,864 for pennsylvania engineering students with aid per year to attend Messiah.
Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 86%. The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is 2.3%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.
Read more about General Engineering at Messiah University
Elizabethtown College landed the #8 spot on the 2023 Best Value Engineering Schools in Pennsylvania For Those Getting Aid ranking. Elizabethtown College is a private not-for-profit institution located in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania. The school has a small population, and it awarded 38 ’s degrees in 2020-2021.
In addition to being on our pennsylvania engineering students with aid list, Etown has also earned the #8 rank in our “Best General Engineering Schools in Pennsylvania” ranking. The yearly cost to attend Elizabethtown College is $25,069 for pennsylvania engineering students with aid.
The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is 2.6%, 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 89%.
Read full report on General Engineering at Elizabethtown College
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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.
Credits
- Credit for the banner image above goes to Rémi Kaupp.