2023 Best Optometry Colleges for Veterans in the Great Lakes Region
4
Ranked Colleges
353
Degrees Awarded
$29,300
Avg Cost*
When it comes to choosing a college, veterans have a lot of options - but not all of them are good. College Factual has developed its “Most Veteran Friendly in the Great Lakes Region for Optometry” ranking as one item you can use to help make this decision.
Optometry is the 194th most popular major in the country with 1,822 degrees awarded in 2020-2021. In 2019-2020, optometry graduates who were awarded their degree in 2017-2019, earned an average of $88,635 and had an average of $0 in loans still to pay off.
Across the Great Lakes region, there were 353 optometry graduates with average earnings and debt of $94,353 and $0 respectively.
This year’s “Most Veteran Friendly in the Great Lakes Region for Optometry” ranking analyzed 4 colleges that offered a degree in optometry. This ranking identifies schools with high-quality optometry programs as well as strong veteran support.
When determining these rankings, we looked at things such as overall quality of the optometry program at the school, veteran affordability, and veteran satisfaction. For more information, check out our ranking methodology.
More Ways to Rank Optometry Schools
Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we’ve developed a number of rankings, including this “Most Veteran Friendly in the Great Lakes Region for Optometry” 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. Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.
Most Veteran Friendly in the Great Lakes Region for Optometry
The following schools top our list of the Best “Most Veteran Friendly in the Great Lakes Region for Optometry”.
Top 4 Best Optometry Colleges for Veterans in the Great Lakes Region
You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Ohio State University - Main Campus. The school came in at #1 for the Most Veteran Friendly in the Great Lakes Region for Optometry. Ohio State University - Main Campus is located in Columbus, Ohio and, has a large student population. In 2020-2021, this school awarded 65 ’s optometry degrees to qualified students.
Ohio State also made our “[COLLEGE_QUALITY_NAME_ALL_LEVELS]” list, coming in at #[COLLEGE_QUALITY_RANK_ALL_LEVELS].According to our most recent data, Ohio State supports 61,369 students, and 2 of those are GI Bill® students, of which 0 are Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients. The average tuition and fees award for the Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients was $0. During this same period, 0 students received scholarships through the Yellow Ribbon Program. Ohio State does offer credit for military training for eligible students.
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%. With a freshman retention rate of 94%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its undergraduate students.
[Read full report on veteran student life at Ohio State]](/colleges/ohio-state-university-main-campus/student-life/veterans/)
Out of the 4 schools in the Most Veteran Friendly in the Great Lakes Region for Optometry that were part of this year’s ranking, Indiana University - Bloomington landed the #2 spot on the list. IU Bloomington is a large public school situated in Bloomington, Indiana. It awarded 84 ’s optometry degrees in 2020-2021.
In addition to being on our great lakes region vets studying optometry list, IU Bloomington has also earned the #[COLLEGE_QUALITY_RANK_ALL_LEVELS] rank in our “[COLLEGE_QUALITY_NAME_ALL_LEVELS]” ranking.Our most recent data shows that 1 of the 43,064 students enrolled at IU Bloomington were GI Bill® students, of which 0 were Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients. The average tuition and fees award for the Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients was $0. In addition to receiving other benefits, 0 students received scholarships through 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%. With a freshman retention rate of 91%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its undergraduate students.
Full IU Bloomington Veteran Student Life Report
You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Ferris State University. The school came in at #3 for the Most Veteran Friendly in the Great Lakes Region for Optometry. Ferris State University is located in Big Rapids, Michigan and, has a fairly large student population. In 2020-2021, this school awarded 37 ’s optometry degrees to qualified students.
As a testament to the quality of education offered at Ferris, the school also landed the #[COLLEGE_QUALITY_RANK_ALL_LEVELS] spot in our “[COLLEGE_QUALITY_NAME_ALL_LEVELS]” ranking.Of the 11,165 students enrolled at Ferris, 377 were GI Bill® students, according to our most recent data. Out of that number, 189 were Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients. The average Post-9/11 GI Bill® award for tuition and fees at the school was $8,426. In addition to receiving other benefits, 0 students received scholarships through the Yellow Ribbon Program. Eligible students may be able to receive credit for their military training.
[Read full report on veteran student life at Ferris]](/colleges/ferris-state-university/student-life/veterans/)
You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Midwestern University - Downers Grove. The school came in at #4 for the Most Veteran Friendly in the Great Lakes Region for Optometry. Located in Downers Grove, Illinois, this small private not-for-profit school handed out 41 diplomas to qualified ’s optometry students in 2020-2021.
Midwestern University - Downers Grove did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #[COLLEGE_QUALITY_RANK_ALL_LEVELS] on our “[COLLEGE_QUALITY_NAME_ALL_LEVELS]” list.Of the 2,980 students enrolled at Midwestern University - Downers Grove, 17 were GI Bill® students, according to our most recent data. Out of that number, 7 were Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients. The average tuition and fees award for the Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients was $14,360. To help with additional expenses, 0 students received funds through the Yellow Ribbon Program.
The undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio of to 1 is a sign that students will have more opportunities to engage with their professors one-on-one.
Full Midwestern University - Downers Grove Veteran Student Life Report
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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.