2022 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Mechanical Engineering (Income $0-$30k) in Maryland

With all of the options students have for higher education today, it can be tough to choose which direction to take. College Factual has developed its “Best Value ME Schools for a Bachelor’s in Maryland For Those Making $0-$30k” ranking as one item you can use to help make this decision.

In 2019-2020, 47,598 people earned their degree in mechanical engineering, making the major the 20th most popular in the United States. In 2017-2018, mechanical engineering graduates who were awarded their degree in 2015-2017, earned an average of $64,495 and had an average of $23,104 in loans still to pay off.

Across Maryland, there were 756 mechanical engineering graduates with average earnings and debt of $69,700 and $20,917 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 564 mechanical engineering graduates with average earnings and debt of $40,371 and $23,982 respectively.

This year’s “Best Value ME Schools for a Bachelor’s in Maryland For Those Making $0-$30k” ranking looked at 3 colleges that offer degrees in a bachelor’s in mechanical engineering. This ranking identifies schools with high-quality mechanical engineering programs that also have a lower cost than schools of similar quality.

When determining these rankings, we looked at things such as overall quality of the mechanical engineering program at the school and the cost to attend the school once aid has been awarded. For more information, check out our ranking methodology.

More Ways to Rank Mechanical Engineering Schools

Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we’ve developed a number of rankings, including this “Best Value ME Schools for a Bachelor’s in Maryland For Those Making $0-$30k” list, to help you choose the best school for you.

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. 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 ME Schools for a Bachelor’s in Maryland For Those Making $0-$30k

The following schools top our list of the Best Best Value ME Schools for a Bachelor’s in Maryland For Those Making $0-$30k.

Top 3 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Mechanical Engineering (Income $0-$30k) in Maryland

#1

Johns Hopkins University

Baltimore, Maryland

#1 in overall quality

$3,526 Average Net Price

$68,219 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Johns Hopkins University. It ranked #1 on our 2022 Best Value ME Schools for a Bachelor’s in Maryland For Those Making $0-$30k list. Johns Hopkins is a large private not-for-profit school situated in Baltimore, Maryland. It awarded 40 bachelors’s ME degrees in 2019-2020.

Johns Hopkins not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #1 on our “Best Mechanical Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Maryland” list. It costs about $3,526 for maryland bachelor’s degree me students whose families make $0-$30k per year to attend Johns Hopkins.

Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 97%. The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 1.3%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. Since the school has a student-to-faculty ratio of 6 to 1, those pursuing a degree will have more opportunities to interact with their professors.

Full Johns Hopkins Mechanical Engineering Report

#2

University of Maryland - College Park

College Park, Maryland

#2 in overall quality

$8,054 Average Net Price

$69,338 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of Maryland - College Park. It ranked #2 on our 2022 Best Value ME Schools for a Bachelor’s in Maryland For Those Making $0-$30k list. UMCP is located in College Park, Maryland and, has a large student population. In 2019-2020, this school awarded 336 bachelors’s ME degrees to qualified students.

UMCP also took the #2 spot in our “Best Mechanical Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Maryland” ranking. It costs about $8,054 for Maryland Bachelor’s Degree ME students whose families make $0-$30k per year to attend UMCP.

With a freshman retention rate of 95%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students. The student loan default rate at the school is 2.4%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

Read more about Mechanical Engineering at UMCP

#3

University of Maryland - Baltimore County

Baltimore, Maryland

#3 in overall quality

$10,820 Average Net Price

$62,129 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of Maryland - Baltimore County. It ranked #3 on our 2022 Best Value ME Schools for a Bachelor’s in Maryland For Those Making $0-$30k list. Located in Baltimore, Maryland, this fairly large public school handed out 120 diplomas to qualified bachelors’s ME students in 2019-2020.

UMBC also took the #3 spot in our “Best Mechanical Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Maryland” ranking. The yearly cost to attend University of Maryland - Baltimore County is $10,820 for Maryland Bachelor’s Degree ME students whose families make $0-$30k.

The low student loan default rate of 4.3% 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 freshman retention rate of 87%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students.

Full UMBC Mechanical Engineering Report

• Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Mechanical Engineering (Income $0-$30k) in the Middle Atlantic Region
• Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Mechanical Engineering (Income $0-$30k)

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.

Credits

• Credit for the banner image above goes to Michel Villeneuve.

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