2022 Best Value Planetary Astronomy and Science Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Far Western US Region For Those Making $48-$75k

When it comes to choosing a college, students have a lot of options - but not all of them are good. 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 Planetary Astronomy and Science Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Far Western US Region For Those Making $48-$75k” ranking is part of that endeavor.

In 2019-2020, 59 people earned their degree in planetary astronomy and science, making the major the 1071st most popular in the United States.

Across the Far Western US region, there were 7 planetary astronomy and science graduates with average earnings and debt of $0 and $0 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 5 planetary astronomy and science graduates with average earnings and debt of $38,083 and $22,209 respectively.

For this year’s “Best Value Planetary Astronomy and Science Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Far Western US Region For Those Making $48-$75k” ranking, we looked at 2 colleges that offer a degree in planetary astronomy and science. This ranking identifies schools with high-quality planetary astronomy and science 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 planetary astronomy and science program at the school and the cost to attend the school once aid has been awarded. See our ranking methodology to learn more.

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 Planetary Astronomy and Science Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Far Western US Region For Those Making $48-$75k” list to help you make the college decision.

To further help you make the college decision, we’ve developed a unique tool called College Combat that allows you to compare schools based on the factors that matter the most to you. Test it out by comparing your favorite schools against others you are considering, or bookmark the tool so you can experiment with it later.

Best Value Planetary Astronomy and Science Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Far Western US Region For Those Making $48-$75k

The colleges and universities below are the best for far western us region bachelor’s degree planetary astronomy and science students whose families make $48-$75k.

Top 2 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Planetary Astronomy & Science (Income $48-$75k) in the Far Western US Region

#1

California Institute of Technology

Pasadena, California

#1 in overall quality

$8,042 Average Net Price

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend California Institute of Technology. The school came in at #1 for the Best Value Planetary Astronomy and Science Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Far Western US Region For Those Making $48-$75k. California Institute of Technology is a small school located in Pasadena, California that handed out 2 bachelors’s planetary astronomy and science degrees in 2019-2020.

In addition to being on our far western us region bachelor’s degree planetary astronomy and science students whose families make $48-$75k list, Caltech has also earned the #1 rank in our “Best Planetary Astronomy & Science Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Far Western US Region” ranking. The yearly cost to attend Caltech is $8,042 for far western us region bachelor’s degree planetary astronomy and science students whose families make $48-$75k.

The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 1.0%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 94%. The student-to-faculty ratio of 3 to 1 is a sign that students will have more opportunities to engage with their professors one-on-one.

Read full report on Planetary Astronomy & Science at California Institute of Technology

#2

University of California - Berkeley

Berkeley, California

#2 in overall quality

$13,081 Average Net Price

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of California - Berkeley. The school came in at #2 for the Best Value Planetary Astronomy and Science Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Far Western US Region For Those Making $48-$75k. UC Berkeley is located in Berkeley, California and, has a large student population. In 2019-2020, this school awarded 3 bachelors’s planetary astronomy and science degrees to qualified students.

UC Berkeley did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #2 on our “Best Planetary Astronomy & Science Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Far Western US Region” list. It costs about $13,081 for far western us region bachelor’s degree planetary astronomy and science students whose families make $48-$75k per year to attend University of California - Berkeley.

The student loan default rate at the school is 1.7%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 96%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.

Read full report on Planetary Astronomy & Science at UC Berkeley

• Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Planetary Astronomy & Science (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.

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