2022 Best Value Area Studies Schools in Tennessee For Those Making $0-$30k

Students have lots of options to chooose from today when trying to decide which college to attend. One of our goals at College Factual is to give you as much information as we can - such as our “Best Value Area Studies Schools in Tennessee For Those Making $0-$30k” ranking - to help you make that decision.

In 2019-2020, 6,820 people earned their degree in area studies, making the major the 106th most popular in the United States. In 2017-2018, area studies graduates who were awarded their degree in 2015-2017, earned an average of $33,734 and had an average of $23,024 in loans still to pay off.

Across Tennessee, there were 53 area studies graduates with average earnings and debt of $0 and $0 respectively.

Not only do the schools that top this list have excellent area studies programs, but they also cost less that schools of similar quality.

Some of the factors we look at when determining these rankings are overall quality of the area studies program at the school and the cost of the school after aid is awarded among other things. For more information, check out our ranking methodology.

One Size Does Not Fit All

Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we’ve developed the “Best Value Area Studies Schools in Tennessee For Those Making $0-$30k” ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that 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. 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 Area Studies Schools in Tennessee For Those Making $0-$30k

The colleges and universities below are the best for tennessee area studies students whose families make $0-$30k.

Top 1 Best Value Colleges for Area Studies (Income $0-$30k) in Tennessee

#1

Vanderbilt University

Nashville, Tennessee

#1 in overall quality

$3,156 Average Net Price

$67,244 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Vanderbilt University. The school came in at #1 for the Best Value Area Studies Schools in Tennessee For Those Making $0-$30k. Nashville, Tennessee is the setting for this fairly large institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out ’s area studies degrees to 24 students in 2019-2020.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at Vanderbilt, the school also landed the #1 spot in our “Best Area Studies Schools in Tennessee” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for Vanderbilt University is $3,156 for Tennessee Area Studies students whose families make $0-$30k.

The student-to-faculty ratio of 8 to 1 is a sign that students will have more opportunities to engage with their professors one-on-one. The student loan default rate at the school is 1.0%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 96%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.

Full Vanderbilt University Area Studies Report

• Best Value Colleges for Area Studies (Income $0-$30k) in the Southeast Region
• Best Value Colleges for Area Studies (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 Karl Udo Gerth.

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