2023 Best Area, Ethnic, Culture, & Gender Studies Colleges for Veterans in Virginia
3
Ranked Colleges
282
Degrees Awarded
$39,400
Avg Cost*
When it comes to choosing a college, veterans have a lot of options - but not all of them are good. College Factual was founded, in part, to help students make the decision as to what would be the best school for them. Our “Most Veteran Friendly in Virginia for Area, Ethnic, Culture, & Gender Studies” ranking is part of that endeavor.
In 2020-2021, 16,243 people earned their degree in area, ethnic, culture, and gender studies, making the major the 30th most popular in the United States. In 2019-2020, area, ethnic, culture, and gender studies graduates who were awarded their degree in 2017-2019, earned an average of $31,881 and had an average of $22,102 in loans still to pay off.
Across Virginia, there were 282 area, ethnic, culture, and gender studies graduates with average earnings and debt of $28,884 and $21,240 respectively.
For this year’s “Most Veteran Friendly in Virginia for Area, Ethnic, Culture, & Gender Studies” ranking, we looked at 3 colleges that offer a degree in area, ethnic, culture, and gender studies. This ranking identifies schools with high-quality area, ethnic, culture, and gender studies programs as well as strong veteran support.
Some of the factors we look at when determining these rankings are overall quality of the area, ethnic, culture, and gender studies program at the school, veteran affordability, and veteran population. See our ranking methodology to learn more.
More Ways to Rank Area, Ethnic, Culture, & Gender Studies Schools
Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we’ve developed the “Most Veteran Friendly in Virginia for Area, Ethnic, Culture, & Gender Studies” ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that 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. 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.
Most Veteran Friendly in Virginia for Area, Ethnic, Culture, & Gender Studies
The following schools top our list of the Best “Most Veteran Friendly in Virginia for Area, Ethnic, Culture, & Gender Studies”.
Top 3 Best Area, Ethnic, Culture, & Gender Studies Colleges for Veterans in Virginia
You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend William & Mary. The school came in at #1 for the Most Veteran Friendly in Virginia for Area, Ethnic, Culture, & Gender Studies. Located in Williamsburg, Virginia, this medium-sized public school handed out 63 degrees to qualified ’s area, ethnic, culture, and gender studies students in 2020-2021.
As a testament to the quality of education offered at William & Mary, the school also landed the #[COLLEGE_QUALITY_RANK_ALL_LEVELS] spot in our “[COLLEGE_QUALITY_NAME_ALL_LEVELS]” ranking.According to our most recent data, William & Mary supports 8,939 students, and 531 of those are GI Bill® students, of which 349 are Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients. The average Post-9/11 GI Bill® award for tuition and fees at the school was $19,978. During this same period, 5 students qualified for the Yellow Ribbon Program. Eligible students may be able to receive credit for their military training.
Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 93%. The low undergrad student loan default rate of [DEFAULT_RATE_STRING]% 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 veteran student life at William & Mary]](/colleges/college-of-william-and-mary/student-life/veterans/)
Out of the 3 schools in the Most Veteran Friendly in Virginia for Area, Ethnic, Culture, & Gender Studies that were part of this year’s ranking, Virginia Commonwealth University landed the #2 spot on the list. VCU is a public institution located in Richmond, Virginia. The school has a large population, and it awarded 106 ’s degrees in 2020-2021.
VCU also made our “[COLLEGE_QUALITY_NAME_ALL_LEVELS]” list, coming in at #[COLLEGE_QUALITY_RANK_ALL_LEVELS].Our most recent data shows that 1 of the 29,070 students enrolled at VCU were GI Bill® students, of which 2 were Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients. The average Post-9/11 GI Bill® award for tuition and fees at the school was $13,085. To help with additional expenses, 0 students qualified for the Yellow Ribbon Program. Eligible students may be able to receive credit for their military training.
The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is [DEFAULT_RATE_STRING]%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.
[Read full report on veteran student life at VCU]](/colleges/virginia-commonwealth-university/student-life/veterans/)
You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of Virginia - Main Campus. The school came in at #3 for the Most Veteran Friendly in Virginia for Area, Ethnic, Culture, & Gender Studies. University of Virginia - Main Campus is a large school located in Charlottesville, Virginia that handed out 40 ’s area, ethnic, culture, and gender studies degrees in 2020-2021.
In addition to being on our virginia vets studying area, ethnic, culture, & gender studies list, University of Virginia has also earned the #[COLLEGE_QUALITY_RANK_ALL_LEVELS] rank in our “[COLLEGE_QUALITY_NAME_ALL_LEVELS]” ranking.Among the 25,628 students enrolled at University of Virginia, 3 are GI Bill® students, according to our most recent data. Out of that number, 0 were Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients. The average tuition and fees award for the Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients was $0. On top of their other funding sources, 0 students received funds through the Yellow Ribbon Program.
The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only [DEFAULT_RATE_STRING]%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 97%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.
[Read full report on veteran student life at University of Virginia]](/colleges/university-of-virginia-main-campus/student-life/veterans/)
Focus on a Specific Degree Level
Switch to a Similar Major
Switch to a More Focused Major
Switch to a Different Ranking Method
Best Area, Ethnic, Culture, & Gender Studies Schools in Virginia
Area, Ethnic, Culture, & Gender Studies students in the state of Virginia
Highest Paid Area, Ethnic, Culture, & Gender Studies Graduates in Virginia
Area, Ethnic, Culture, & Gender Studies students in Virginia
Most Popular Colleges for Area, Ethnic, Culture, & Gender Studies in Virginia
Area, Ethnic, Culture, & Gender Studies students in Virginia
Best Value Colleges for Area, Ethnic, Culture, & Gender Studies in Virginia
Area, Ethnic, Culture, & Gender Studies students in Virginia
Most Focused Colleges for Area, Ethnic, Culture, & Gender Studies in Virginia
Area, Ethnic, Culture, & Gender Studies students in Virginia
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).
- Veteran-specific data can be found at the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs.
- 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
- *Avg Salary and Avg 4-Year Grad Rate are for the top schools only.
- **GI Bill® student total includes all chapters of the GI Bill® program (e.g., Post-9/11, Montgomery GI Bill, Reserve Education Assistance Program, and Veteran Readiness and Employment)
- 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 G. Mützel.