2023 Best Value Natural Sciences Schools in the Southeast Region For Those Making $0-$30k

It’s not easy to decide which college to attend when there so many options available for students. One of our goals at College Factual is to give you as much information as we can - such as our “Best Value Natural Sciences Schools in the Southeast Region For Those Making $0-$30k” ranking - to help you make that decision.

In 2020-2021, 2,214 people earned their degree in natural sciences, making the major the 208th most popular in the United States. In 2019-2020, natural sciences graduates who were awarded their degree in 2017-2019, earned an average of $25,745 and had an average of $18,648 in loans still to pay off.

Across the Southeast region, there were 151 natural sciences graduates with average earnings and debt of $40,445 and $24,105 respectively.

For this year’s “Best Value Natural Sciences Schools in the Southeast Region For Those Making $0-$30k” ranking, we looked at 2 colleges that offer a degree in natural sciences. This ranking identifies schools with high-quality natural sciences programs that also have a lower cost than 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 natural sciences program at the school. See our ranking methodology to learn more.

More Ways to Rank Natural Sciences Schools

The natural sciences school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we’ve developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of “Best Value Natural Sciences Schools in the Southeast Region For Those Making $0-$30k”.

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. Test it out when you get a chance! You may also want to bookmark the link and share it with others who are trying to make the college decision.

Best Value Natural Sciences Schools in the Southeast Region For Those Making $0-$30k

The colleges and universities below are the best for southeast region natural sciences students whose families make $0-$30k.

Top 2 Best Value Colleges for Natural Sciences (Income $0-$30k) in the Southeast Region

1

American Public University System
Charles Town, West Virginia

#2 in overall quality

$9,660 Average Net Price

$51,395 Average Early-Career Earnings

Out of the 2 schools in the Best Value Natural Sciences Schools in the Southeast Region For Those Making $0-$30k that were part of this year’s ranking, American Public University System landed the #1 spot on the list. Located in Charles Town, West Virginia, this large private for-profit school handed out 32 diplomas to qualified ’s natural sciences students in 2020-2021.

American Military University not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #2 on our “Best Natural Sciences Schools in the Southeast Region” list. The estimated yearly cost for American Public University System is $9,660 for Southeast Region Natural Sciences students whose families make $0-$30k.

Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 98%.

Read more about Natural Sciences at American Military University

2

Virginia Commonwealth University
Richmond, Virginia

#1 in overall quality

$14,507 Average Net Price

$47,786 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Virginia Commonwealth University. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Best Value Natural Sciences Schools in the Southeast Region For Those Making $0-$30k list. VCU is a large school located in Richmond, Virginia that handed out 14 ’s natural sciences degrees in 2020-2021.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at VCU, the school also landed the #1 spot in our “Best Natural Sciences Schools in the Southeast Region” ranking. It costs about $14,507 for Southeast Region Natural Sciences students whose families make $0-$30k per year to attend VCU.

The low undergrad student loan default rate of 2.6% 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%.

Full VCU Natural Sciences Report

• Best Value Colleges for Natural Sciences (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 Agsftw.