2023 Most Veteran Friendly in the Plains States Region for Religion for a Bachelor’s

When it comes to choosing a college, veterans have a lot of options - but not all of them are good. One of our goals at College Factual is to give you as much information as we can - such as our “Most Veteran Friendly in the Plains States Region for Religion for a Bachelor’s” ranking - to help you make that decision.

In 2020-2021, 9,470 people earned their degree in religious studies, making the major the 90th most popular in the United States. In 2019-2020, religious studies graduates who were awarded their degree in 2017-2019, earned an average of $34,289 and had an average of $24,431 in loans still to pay off.

Across the Plains States region, there were 374 religious studies graduates with average earnings and debt of $30,550 and $23,250 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 273 religious studies graduates with average earnings and debt of $41,046 and $29,021 respectively.

For this year’s “Most Veteran Friendly in the Plains States Region for Religion for a Bachelor’s” ranking, we looked at 2 colleges that offer a degree in religious studies. This ranking identifies schools with high-quality religious studies programs as well as strong veteran support.

Some of the factors we look at when determining these rankings are overall quality of the religious studies program at the school, veteran affordability, and veteran population. See our ranking methodology to learn more.

More Ways to Rank Religious Studies Schools

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 in the Plains States Region for Religion for a Bachelor’s” 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. 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.

Most Veteran Friendly in the Plains States Region for Religion for a Bachelor’s

The following schools top our list of the Best “Most Veteran Friendly in the Plains States Region for Religion for a Bachelor’s”.

Top 2 Best Religious Studies Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Veterans in the Plains States Region

1

University of St Thomas Minnesota
Saint Paul, Minnesota

2 GI Bill® Students**

#1 in overall quality

YES Student Veterans Organization

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of St Thomas Minnesota. The school came in at #1 for the Most Veteran Friendly in the Plains States Region for Religion for a Bachelor’s. University of St Thomas Minnesota is located in Saint Paul, Minnesota and, has a medium-sized student population. In 2020-2021, this school awarded 40 bachelors’s religion degrees to qualified students.

In addition to being on our plains states region bachelor’s degree vets studying religion list, UST MN has also earned the #1 rank in our “Best Religious Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Plains States Region” ranking.Our most recent data shows that 2 of the 9,792 students enrolled at University of St Thomas Minnesota were GI Bill® students, of which 0 were Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients. The average Post-9/11 GI Bill® award for tuition and fees at the school was $0. In addition to receiving other benefits, 0 students qualified for the Yellow Ribbon Program. Eligible students may be able to receive credit for their military training.

Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 87%. 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%.

Full University of St Thomas Minnesota Veteran Student Life Report

2

University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
Minneapolis, Minnesota

752 GI Bill® Students**

#2 in overall quality

YES Student Veterans Organization

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of Minnesota - Twin Cities. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Most Veteran Friendly in the Plains States Region for Religion for a Bachelor’s list. University of Minnesota - Twin Cities is a large school located in Minneapolis, Minnesota that handed out 4 bachelors’s religion degrees in 2020-2021.

UMN Twin Cities also took the #2 spot in our “Best Religious Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Plains States Region” ranking.Among the 52,017 students enrolled at UMN Twin Cities, 752 are GI Bill® students, according to our most recent data. Out of that number, 436 were Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients. The average Post-9/11 GI Bill® award for tuition and fees at the school was $13,020. During this same period, 0 students received scholarships through the Yellow Ribbon Program. Students may be able to receive credit for their military training, depending on their background.

The low undergrad student loan default rate of [DEFAULT_RATE_STRING]% 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%. With a freshman retention rate of 93%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its undergraduate students.

[Read full report on veteran student life at UMN Twin Cities]](/colleges/university-of-minnesota-twin-cities/student-life/veterans/)

• Best Religious Studies Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for 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 Sowlos.