2023 Best Natural Sciences Doctor’s Degree Colleges for Veterans

It’s not easy to decide which college to attend when there so many options available for veterans. One of our goals at College Factual is to give you as much information as we can - such as our “Most Veteran Friendly for Natural Sciences for a Doctorate” 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.

This year’s “Most Veteran Friendly for Natural Sciences for a Doctorate” ranking analyzed 2 colleges that offered a degree in natural sciences. This ranking identifies schools with high-quality natural sciences programs as well as strong veteran support.

To come up with these rankings, we looked at factors such as veteran satisfaction, veteran affordability, and overall quality of the natural sciences program at the school. For more information, check out our ranking methodology.

One Size Does Not Fit All

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 for Natural Sciences for a Doctorate” list, to help you choose the best school for you.

You can create your own custom comparison that focuses on the factors most important to you using our tool, College Combat. 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.

Most Veteran Friendly for Natural Sciences for a Doctorate

The colleges and universities below are the best for doctor’s degree vets studying natural sciences.

Top 2 Best Natural Sciences Doctor’s Degree Colleges for Veterans

1

Virginia Commonwealth University
Richmond, Virginia

1 GI Bill® Students**

#1 in overall quality

YES Student Veterans Organization

Out of the 2 schools in the Most Veteran Friendly for Natural Sciences for a Doctorate that were part of this year’s ranking, Virginia Commonwealth University landed the #1 spot on the list. Located in Richmond, Virginia, this large public school awarded 5 degrees to qualified doctorate’s natural sciences students in 2020-2021.

In addition to being on our doctor’s degree vets studying natural sciences list, VCU has also earned the #1 rank in our “Best Natural Sciences Doctor’s Degree Schools” ranking.According to our most recent data, Virginia Commonwealth University supports 29,070 students, and 1 of those are GI Bill® students, of which 2 are Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients. The average tuition and fees award for the Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients was $13,085. To help with additional expenses, 0 students qualified for the Yellow Ribbon Program. Virginia Commonwealth University offers credit for military training for eligible students.

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%.

Full Virginia Commonwealth University Veteran Student Life Report

2

University of Colorado at Colorado Springs
Colorado Springs, Colorado

11 GI Bill® Students**

#2 in overall quality

YES Student Veterans Organization

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. The school came in at #2 for the Most Veteran Friendly for Natural Sciences for a Doctorate. Located in Colorado Springs, Colorado, this fairly large public school awarded 2 degrees to qualified doctorate’s natural sciences students in 2020-2021.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at UCCS, the school also landed the #2 spot in our “Best Natural Sciences Doctor’s Degree Schools” ranking.Of the 12,380 students enrolled at UCCS, 11 were GI Bill® students, according to our most recent data. Out of that number, 8 were Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients. The average Post-9/11 GI Bill® award for tuition and fees at the school was $6,808. During this same period, 0 students qualified for the Yellow Ribbon Program. UCCS offers 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%.

[Read full report on veteran student life at UCCS]](/colleges/university-of-colorado-at-colorado-springs/student-life/veterans/)

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

Footnotes

• *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.

Credits

• Credit for the banner image above goes to Agsftw.