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2022 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Liberal Arts General Studies (Income $0-$30k) in Iowa

5 Ranked Colleges
451 Degrees Awarded
$13,500 Avg Net Price*
Best Value Liberal Arts Schools for a Bachelor's in Iowa For Those Making $0-$30k

When pursuing a degree in today’s world, students have many different options to choose from. One of our goals at College Factual is to give you as much information as we can - such as our “Best Value Liberal Arts Schools for a Bachelor’s in Iowa For Those Making $0-$30k” ranking - to help you make that decision.

Liberal Arts General Studies is one of the most popular majors in the nation, ranking 1st of all the majors we analyze. In 2019-2020, 559,661 degrees were awarded to students with this major. In 2017-2018, liberal arts general studies graduates who were awarded their degree in 2015-2017, earned an average of $26,786 and had an average of $16,538 in loans still to pay off.

Across Iowa, there were 6,129 liberal arts general studies graduates with average earnings and debt of $29,768 and $15,875 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 451 liberal arts general studies graduates with average earnings and debt of $39,922 and $25,876 respectively.

This year’s “Best Value Liberal Arts Schools for a Bachelor’s in Iowa For Those Making $0-$30k” ranking looked at 5 colleges that offer degrees in a bachelor’s in liberal arts general studies. The schools that top this list are recognized because they have great liberal arts general studies programs and cost less that schools of similar quality.

To come up with these rankings, we looked at factors such as the cost to attend the school after aid is awarded and overall quality of the liberal arts general studies program at the school. 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 Liberal Arts Schools for a Bachelor’s in Iowa For Those Making $0-$30k” list to help you make the college decision.

You can create your own custom comparison that focuses on the factors most important to you using our tool, College Combat. 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 Liberal Arts Schools for a Bachelor’s in Iowa For Those Making $0-$30k

The following schools top our list of the Best Best Value Liberal Arts Schools for a Bachelor’s in Iowa For Those Making $0-$30k.

Top 5 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Liberal Arts General Studies (Income $0-$30k) in Iowa

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Iowa State University. It ranked #1 on our 2022 Best Value Liberal Arts Schools for a Bachelor’s in Iowa For Those Making $0-$30k list. Iowa State University is a large school located in Ames, Iowa that handed out 80 bachelors’s liberal arts degrees in 2019-2020.

Iowa State not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #2 on our “Best Liberal Arts General Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Iowa” list. The estimated yearly cost for Iowa State University is $10,054 for iowa bachelor’s degree liberal arts students whose families make $0-$30k.

The student loan default rate at the school is 3.3%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 89%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.

Full Iowa State Liberal Arts General Studies Report

#2

University of Northern Iowa

Cedar Falls, Iowa

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of Northern Iowa. The school came in at #2 for the Best Value Liberal Arts Schools for a Bachelor’s in Iowa For Those Making $0-$30k. This medium-sized school is located in Cedar Falls, Iowa, and it awarded 76 bachelors’s liberal arts degrees in 2019-2020.

UNI also took the #3 spot in our “Best Liberal Arts General Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Iowa” ranking. The yearly cost to attend University of Northern Iowa is $10,757 for iowa bachelor’s degree liberal arts students whose families make $0-$30k.

The student loan default rate at the school is 3.6%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%. Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 86%.

Read full report on Liberal Arts General Studies at UNI

#3

University of Iowa

Iowa City, Iowa

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of Iowa. The school came in at #3 for the Best Value Liberal Arts Schools for a Bachelor’s in Iowa For Those Making $0-$30k. Located in Iowa City, Iowa, this large public school awarded 190 diplomas to qualified bachelors’s liberal arts students in 2019-2020.

Iowa not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #1 on our “Best Liberal Arts General Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Iowa” list. It costs about $12,975 for iowa bachelor’s degree liberal arts students whose families make $0-$30k per year to attend University of Iowa.

With a freshman retention rate of 88%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students. 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 more about Liberal Arts General Studies at University of Iowa

#4

Grand View University

Des Moines, Iowa

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Grand View University. It ranked #4 on our 2022 Best Value Liberal Arts Schools for a Bachelor’s in Iowa For Those Making $0-$30k list. Des Moines, Iowa is the setting for this small institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out bachelors’s liberal arts degrees to 23 students in 2019-2020.

Grand View University also made our “Best Liberal Arts General Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Iowa” list, coming in at #4. The estimated yearly cost for Grand View University is $18,481 for Iowa Bachelor’s Degree Liberal Arts students whose families make $0-$30k.

Read more about Liberal Arts General Studies at Grand View University

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Graceland University - Lamoni. It ranked #5 on our 2022 Best Value Liberal Arts Schools for a Bachelor’s in Iowa For Those Making $0-$30k list. Graceland Lamoni is located in Lamoni, Iowa and, has a small student population. In 2019-2020, this school awarded 8 bachelors’s liberal arts degrees to qualified students.

Graceland Lamoni did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #5 on our “Best Liberal Arts General Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Iowa” list. It costs about $15,015 for Iowa Bachelor’s Degree Liberal Arts students whose families make $0-$30k per year to attend Graceland Lamoni.

Full Graceland Lamoni Liberal Arts General Studies 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).
  • 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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