2023 Best Value Colleges for Natural Sciences (Income $48-$75k) in the Southeast Region

Students have lots of options to chooose from today when trying to decide which college to attend. College Factual was founded, in part, to help students make the decision as to what would be the best school for them. Our “Best Value Natural Sciences Schools in the Southeast Region For Those Making $48-$75k” ranking is part of that endeavor.

Natural Sciences is the 208th most popular major in the country with 2,214 degrees awarded in 2020-2021. 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 $48-$75k” 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.

When determining these rankings, we looked at things such as overall quality of the natural sciences 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 Natural Sciences Schools in the Southeast Region For Those Making $48-$75k” list to help you make the college decision.

In addition to College Factual’s rankings, you may want to take a look at College Combat, our unique tool that lets you pit your favorite schools head-to-head and compare how they rate on factors that most interest you. When you have some time, check it out - you may want to bookmark the link so you don’t forget it.

Best Value Natural Sciences Schools in the Southeast Region For Those Making $48-$75k

The following schools top our list of the Best Best Value Natural Sciences Schools in the Southeast Region For Those Making $48-$75k.

Top 2 Best Value Colleges for Natural Sciences (Income $48-$75k) in the Southeast Region

1

American Public University System
Charles Town, West Virginia

#2 in overall quality

$13,536 Average Net Price

$51,395 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend American Public University System. The school came in at #1 for the Best Value Natural Sciences Schools in the Southeast Region For Those Making $48-$75k. Located in Charles Town, West Virginia, this large private for-profit school awarded 32 degrees to qualified ’s natural sciences students in 2020-2021.

American Military University did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #2 on our “Best Natural Sciences Schools in the Southeast Region” list. The estimated yearly cost for American Public University System is $13,536 for southeast region natural sciences students whose families make $48-$75k.

The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 98%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.

Full American Military University Natural Sciences Report

2

Virginia Commonwealth University
Richmond, Virginia

#1 in overall quality

$18,553 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 $48-$75k list. Virginia Commonwealth University is a large public school situated in Richmond, Virginia. It awarded 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. The yearly cost to attend VCU is $18,553 for Southeast Region Natural Sciences students whose families make $48-$75k.

The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 2.6%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.

Full VCU Natural Sciences Report

• Best Value Colleges for Natural Sciences (Income $48-$75k)

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.