2023 Best Value Petroleum Engineering Schools in the Far Western US Region For Those Making $0-$30k

With all of the options students have for higher education today, it can be tough to choose which direction to take. 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 Petroleum Engineering Schools in the Far Western US Region For Those Making $0-$30k” ranking is part of that endeavor.

Petroleum Engineering is the 223rd most popular major in the country with 1,256 degrees awarded in 2020-2021. In 2019-2020, petroleum engineering graduates who were awarded their degree in 2017-2019, earned an average of $83,917 and had an average of $25,780 in loans still to pay off.

Across the Far Western US region, there were 31 petroleum engineering graduates with average earnings and debt of $0 and $0 respectively.

This year’s “Best Value Petroleum Engineering Schools in the Far Western US Region For Those Making $0-$30k” ranking looked at 2 colleges that offer degrees in a bachelor’s in petroleum engineering. This ranking identifies schools with high-quality petroleum 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 petroleum engineering 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 Petroleum Engineering 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 Petroleum Engineering Schools in the Far Western US Region For Those Making $0-$30k” list to help you make the college decision.

In addition to College Factual’s rankings, you may want to take a look at College Combat, our unique tool that lets you pit your favorite schools head-to-head and compare how they rate on factors that most interest 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.

Best Value Petroleum Engineering Schools in the Far Western US Region For Those Making $0-$30k

The following schools top our list of the Best Best Value Petroleum Engineering Schools in the Far Western US Region For Those Making $0-$30k.

Top 2 Best Value Colleges for Petroleum Engineering (Income $0-$30k) in the Far Western US Region

1

University of Southern California
Los Angeles, California

#1 in overall quality

$17,287 Average Net Price

$65,044 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of Southern California. It ranked #1 on our 2023 Best Value Petroleum Engineering Schools in the Far Western US Region For Those Making $0-$30k list. University of Southern California is a large private not-for-profit school situated in Los Angeles, California. It awarded 21 ’s petroleum engineering degrees in 2020-2021.

USC also took the #1 spot in our “Best Petroleum Engineering Schools in the Far Western US Region” ranking. The yearly cost to attend University of Southern California is $17,287 for Far Western US Region Petroleum Engineering students whose families make $0-$30k.

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. Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 91%. The low undergrad student loan default rate of 1.3% 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%.

Read full report on Petroleum Engineering at USC

2

University of Alaska Fairbanks
Fairbanks, Alaska

#2 in overall quality

$6,880 Average Net Price

$45,077 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of Alaska Fairbanks. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Best Value Petroleum Engineering Schools in the Far Western US Region For Those Making $0-$30k list. University of Alaska Fairbanks is a medium-sized public school situated in Fairbanks, Alaska. It awarded 6 ’s petroleum engineering degrees in 2020-2021.

UAF did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #2 on our “Best Petroleum Engineering Schools in the Far Western US Region” list. The yearly cost to attend University of Alaska Fairbanks is $6,880 for Far Western US Region Petroleum Engineering students whose families make $0-$30k.

Read full report on Petroleum Engineering at University of Alaska Fairbanks

• Best Value Colleges for Petroleum 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.