2022 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Nuclear Engineering (Income $48-$75k) in the Far Western US Region

It’s not easy to decide which college to attend when there so many options available for students. One of our goals at College Factual is to give you as much information as we can - such as our “Best Value Nuclear Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Far Western US Region For Those Making $48-$75k” ranking - to help you make that decision.

Nuclear Engineering is the 233rd most popular major in the country with 948 degrees awarded in 2019-2020. In 2017-2018, nuclear engineering graduates who were awarded their degree in 2015-2017, earned an average of $61,244 and had an average of $23,833 in loans still to pay off.

Across the Far Western US region, there were 99 nuclear engineering graduates with average earnings and debt of $0 and $27,000 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 46 nuclear engineering graduates with average earnings and debt of $38,083 and $22,209 respectively.

This year’s “Best Value Nuclear Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Far Western US Region For Those Making $48-$75k” ranking analyzed 2 colleges that offered a degree in nuclear engineering. Not only do the schools that top this list have excellent nuclear 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 nuclear engineering program at the school and the cost to attend the school once aid has been awarded. See our ranking methodology to learn more.

One Size Does Not Fit All

Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we’ve developed a number of rankings, including this “Best Value Nuclear Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Far Western US Region For Those Making $48-$75k” 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. If you’re torn between two schools, you can use it to help you see how they stack up against one another. Bookmark it so you can compare any new schools that might interest you.

Best Value Nuclear Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Far Western US Region For Those Making $48-$75k

The following schools top our list of the Best Best Value Nuclear Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Far Western US Region For Those Making $48-$75k.

Top 2 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Nuclear Engineering (Income $48-$75k) in the Far Western US Region

#1

University of California - Berkeley

Berkeley, California

#1 in overall quality

$13,081 Average Net Price

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of California - Berkeley. It ranked #1 on our 2022 Best Value Nuclear Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Far Western US Region For Those Making $48-$75k list. This large school is located in Berkeley, California, and it awarded 12 bachelors’s nuclear engineering degrees in 2019-2020.

UC Berkeley also made our “Best Nuclear Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Far Western US Region” list, coming in at #1. The yearly cost to attend UC Berkeley is $13,081 for far western us region bachelor’s degree nuclear engineering students whose families make $48-$75k.

Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 96%. The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 1.7%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.

Read more about Nuclear Engineering at UC Berkeley

#2

Oregon State University

Corvallis, Oregon

#2 in overall quality

$20,346 Average Net Price

$59,417 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Oregon State University. It ranked #2 on our 2022 Best Value Nuclear Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Far Western US Region For Those Making $48-$75k list. Oregon State is a large school located in Corvallis, Oregon that handed out 34 bachelors’s nuclear engineering degrees in 2019-2020.

Oregon State not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #2 on our “Best Nuclear Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Far Western US Region” list. The yearly cost to attend Oregon State is $20,346 for far western us region bachelor’s degree nuclear engineering students whose families make $48-$75k.

With a freshman retention rate of 85%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students. The low student loan default rate of 3.4% 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%.

Full Oregon State Nuclear Engineering Report

• Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Nuclear Engineering (Income $48-$75k)

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 Siemens Pressebild.

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