2022 Best Value Astronomy Schools for a Bachelor’s in Pennsylvania 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. One of our goals at College Factual is to give you as much information as we can - such as our “Best Value Astronomy Schools for a Bachelor’s in Pennsylvania For Those Making $48-$75k” ranking - to help you make that decision.

Astronomy & Astrophysics is the 222nd most popular major in the country with 1,268 degrees awarded in 2019-2020. In 2017-2018, astronomy and astrophysics graduates who were awarded their degree in 2015-2017, earned an average of $27,700 and had an average of $21,346 in loans still to pay off.

Across Pennsylvania, there were 26 astronomy and astrophysics graduates with average earnings and debt of $0 and $0 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 26 astronomy and astrophysics graduates with average earnings and debt of $0 and $0 respectively.

This year’s “Best Value Astronomy Schools for a Bachelor’s in Pennsylvania For Those Making $48-$75k” ranking analyzed 2 colleges that offered a degree in astronomy and astrophysics. Not only do the schools that top this list have excellent astronomy and astrophysics programs, but they also cost less that 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 astronomy and astrophysics program at the school. Check out our ranking methodology for more information.

More Ways to Rank Astronomy & Astrophysics Schools

Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we’ve developed the “Best Value Astronomy Schools for a Bachelor’s in Pennsylvania For Those Making $48-$75k” ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that 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. 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.

Best Value Astronomy Schools for a Bachelor’s in Pennsylvania For Those Making $48-$75k

The following schools top our list of the Best Best Value Astronomy Schools for a Bachelor’s in Pennsylvania For Those Making $48-$75k.

Top 2 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Astronomy & Astrophysics (Income $48-$75k) in Pennsylvania

#1

Carnegie Mellon University

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

#1 in overall quality

$18,276 Average Net Price

Out of the 2 schools in the Best Value Astronomy Schools for a Bachelor’s in Pennsylvania For Those Making $48-$75k that were part of this year’s ranking, Carnegie Mellon University landed the #1 spot on the list. Carnegie Mellon University is a fairly large school located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania that handed out 2 bachelors’s astronomy degrees in 2019-2020.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at Carnegie Mellon, the school also landed the #1 spot in our “Best Astronomy & Astrophysics Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Pennsylvania” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for Carnegie Mellon University is $18,276 for pennsylvania bachelor’s degree astronomy students whose families make $48-$75k.

The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 96%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year. The student-to-faculty ratio of 5 to 1 is a sign that students will have more opportunities to engage with their professors one-on-one. The student loan default rate at the school is 0.6%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

Full Carnegie Mellon Astronomy & Astrophysics Report

#2

University of Pittsburgh - Pittsburgh Campus

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

#2 in overall quality

$25,110 Average Net Price

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of Pittsburgh - Pittsburgh Campus. The school came in at #2 for the Best Value Astronomy Schools for a Bachelor’s in Pennsylvania For Those Making $48-$75k. Pitt is a public institution located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The school has a large population, and it awarded 1 bachelors’s degrees in 2019-2020.

Pitt did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #2 on our “Best Astronomy & Astrophysics Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Pennsylvania” list. The estimated yearly cost for University of Pittsburgh - Pittsburgh Campus is $25,110 for pennsylvania bachelor’s degree astronomy students whose families make $48-$75k.

The low student loan default rate of 3.5% 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 students.

Read more about Astronomy & Astrophysics at Pitt

• Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Astronomy & Astrophysics (Income $48-$75k) in the Middle Atlantic Region
• Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Astronomy & Astrophysics (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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