2022 Best Value Public Health Schools in Iowa For Those Getting Aid

With all of the options students have for higher education today, it can be tough to choose which direction to take. One of our goals at College Factual is to give you as much information as we can - such as our “Best Value Public Health Schools in Iowa For Those Getting Aid” ranking - to help you make that decision.

Public Health is the 27th most popular major in the country with 38,020 degrees awarded in 2019-2020. In 2017-2018, public health graduates who were awarded their degree in 2015-2017, earned an average of $41,740 and had an average of $35,895 in loans still to pay off.

Across Iowa, there were 281 public health graduates with average earnings and debt of $44,843 and $48,087 respectively.

This year’s “Best Value Public Health Schools in Iowa For Those Getting Aid” ranking analyzed 3 colleges that offered a degree in public health. The schools that top this list are recognized because they have great public health programs and cost less that schools of similar quality.

When determining these rankings, we looked at things such as overall quality of the public health program at the school and the cost to attend the school once aid has been awarded. For more information, check out our ranking methodology.

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 Public Health Schools in Iowa For Those Getting Aid” list to help you make the college decision.

One of our other unique offerings is College Combat. This tool lets you build your own customized comparisons utilizing the factors that are most important 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 Public Health Schools in Iowa For Those Getting Aid

The following schools top our list of the Best Best Value Public Health Schools in Iowa For Those Getting Aid.

Top 3 Best Value Colleges for Public Health in Iowa (With Aid)

#1

University of Iowa

Iowa City, Iowa

#1 in overall quality

$19,145 Average Net Price

$44,594 Average Early-Career Earnings

Out of the 3 schools in the Best Value Public Health Schools in Iowa For Those Getting Aid that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Iowa landed the #1 spot on the list. Iowa City, Iowa is the setting for this large institution of higher learning. The public school handed out ’s public health degrees to 171 students in 2019-2020.

Iowa not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #1 on our “Best Public Health Schools in Iowa” list. It costs about $19,145 for Iowa Public Health students with aid per year to attend Iowa.

The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 88%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year. The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 3.5%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.

Full Iowa Public Health Report

#2

University of Northern Iowa

Cedar Falls, Iowa

#3 in overall quality

$15,620 Average Net Price

$39,900 Average Early-Career Earnings

Out of the 3 schools in the Best Value Public Health Schools in Iowa For Those Getting Aid that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Northern Iowa landed the #2 spot on the list. University of Northern Iowa is a medium-sized school located in Cedar Falls, Iowa that handed out 49 ’s public health degrees in 2019-2020.

UNI did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #3 on our “Best Public Health Schools in Iowa” list. The yearly cost to attend UNI is $15,620 for iowa public health students with aid.

The low student loan default rate of 3.6% 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%. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 86%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.

Full University of Northern Iowa Public Health Report

#3

Mount Mercy University

Cedar Rapids, Iowa

#4 in overall quality

$20,857 Average Net Price

$46,060 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Mount Mercy University. It ranked #3 on our 2022 Best Value Public Health Schools in Iowa For Those Getting Aid list. Mount Mercy University is a small private not-for-profit school situated in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It awarded 5 ’s public health degrees in 2019-2020.

Mount Mercy did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #4 on our “Best Public Health Schools in Iowa” list. It costs about $20,857 for Iowa Public Health students with aid per year to attend Mount Mercy.

The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 4.3%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.

Read more about Public Health at Mount Mercy

• Best Value Colleges for Public Health in the Plains States Region (With Aid)
• Best Value Colleges for Public Health (With Aid)

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 Article 25 Flickr.

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