2022 Best Value Colleges for Petroleum Engineering (Income $30-$48k) in Pennsylvania

When it comes to choosing a college, students have a lot of options - but not all of them are good. College Factual has developed its “Best Value Petroleum Engineering Schools in Pennsylvania For Those Making $30-$48k” ranking as one item you can use to help make this decision.

Petroleum Engineering is the 180th most popular major in the country with 1,582 degrees awarded in 2019-2020. In 2017-2018, petroleum engineering graduates who were awarded their degree in 2015-2017, earned an average of $66,730 and had an average of $24,667 in loans still to pay off.

Across Pennsylvania, there were 13 petroleum engineering graduates with average earnings and debt of $65,500 and $27,000 respectively.

For this year’s “Best Value Petroleum Engineering Schools in Pennsylvania For Those Making $30-$48k” ranking, we looked at 2 colleges that offer a degree in petroleum engineering. Not only do the schools that top this list have excellent petroleum 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 petroleum 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.

One Size Does Not Fit All

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 Pennsylvania For Those Making $30-$48k” list to help you make the college decision.

To further help you make the college decision, we’ve developed a unique tool called College Combat that allows you to compare schools based on the factors that matter the most to you. Test it out by comparing your favorite schools against others you are considering, or bookmark the tool so you can experiment with it later.

Best Value Petroleum Engineering Schools in Pennsylvania For Those Making $30-$48k

The colleges and universities below are the best for pennsylvania petroleum engineering students whose families make $30-$48k.

Top 2 Best Value Colleges for Petroleum Engineering (Income $30-$48k) in Pennsylvania

#1

University of Pittsburgh - Pittsburgh Campus

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

#1 in overall quality

$21,011 Average Net Price

$48,490 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of Pittsburgh - Pittsburgh Campus. The school came in at #1 for the Best Value Petroleum Engineering Schools in Pennsylvania For Those Making $30-$48k. University of Pittsburgh - Pittsburgh Campus is a large school located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania that handed out 5 ’s petroleum engineering degrees in 2019-2020.

Pitt did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #1 on our “Best Petroleum Engineering Schools in Pennsylvania” list. The estimated yearly cost for University of Pittsburgh - Pittsburgh Campus is $21,011 for Pennsylvania Petroleum Engineering students whose families make $30-$48k.

The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 93%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year. The student loan default rate at the school is 3.5%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

Read full report on Petroleum Engineering at Pitt

#2

Saint Francis University

Loretto, Pennsylvania

#2 in overall quality

$23,794 Average Net Price

$55,867 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Saint Francis University. It ranked #2 on our 2022 Best Value Petroleum Engineering Schools in Pennsylvania For Those Making $30-$48k list. Saint Francis University is a private not-for-profit institution located in Loretto, Pennsylvania. The school has a small population, and it awarded 3 ’s degrees in 2019-2020.

Saint Francis did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #2 on our “Best Petroleum Engineering Schools in Pennsylvania” list. The yearly cost to attend Saint Francis University is $23,794 for Pennsylvania Petroleum Engineering students whose families make $30-$48k.

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 2.3%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.

Read full report on Petroleum Engineering at Saint Francis

• Best Value Colleges for Petroleum Engineering (Income $30-$48k) in the Middle Atlantic Region
• Best Value Colleges for Petroleum Engineering (Income $30-$48k)

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.

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