2023 Most Focused Doctor’s Degree Colleges for Astronomy & Astrophysics in Virginia

Students have lots of options to chooose from today when trying to decide which college to attend. College Factual has developed its “Schools for a Doctorate Highly Focused on Astronomy Major in Virginia” ranking as one item you can use to help make this decision.

Astronomy & Astrophysics is the 219th most popular major in the country with 1,396 degrees awarded in 2021-2022. In , astronomy & astrophysics graduates who were awarded their degree in , earned an average of $29,129 and had an average of $23,581 in loans still to pay off.

Across Virginia, there were 32 astronomy & astrophysics graduates with average earnings and debt of $0 and $0 respectively. At the doctor’s degree level specifically, there were 4 astronomy & astrophysics graduates with average earnings and debt of $76,688 and $121,343 respectively.

This year’s “Schools for a Doctorate Highly Focused on Astronomy Major in Virginia” ranking analyzed 2 colleges that offered a degree in astronomy & astrophysics. This a ranking of the schools where the largest percentage of students has enrolled in astronomy & astrophysics.

For more information, check out our ranking methodology.

One Size Does Not Fit All

The astronomy school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we’ve developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of “Schools for a Doctorate Highly Focused on Astronomy Major in Virginia”.

We’ve created a tool called College Combat that lets you create your own customized comparisons based on the factors that matter the most to you. 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.

Schools for a Doctorate Highly Focused on Astronomy Major in Virginia

The following schools top our list of the Best “Schools for a Doctorate Highly Focused on Astronomy Major in Virginia”.

Top 2 Most Focused Doctor’s Degree Colleges for Astronomy & Astrophysics in Virginia

1

Hampton University
Hampton, Virginia

#24 overall quality in Virginia

Out of the 2 schools in the Schools for a Doctorate Highly Focused on Astronomy Major in Virginia that were part of this year’s ranking, Hampton University landed the #1 spot on the list. Hampton is located in Hampton, Virginia and, has a small student population. In 2021-2022, this school awarded 0 doctorate’s astronomy degrees to qualified students.

The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 3.8%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.

Read more about Astronomy & Astrophysics at Hampton

2

University of Virginia - Main Campus
Charlottesville, Virginia

#1 overall quality in Virginia

Out of the 2 schools in the Schools for a Doctorate Highly Focused on Astronomy Major in Virginia that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Virginia - Main Campus landed the #2 spot on the list. University of Virginia is a large school located in Charlottesville, Virginia that handed out 4 doctorate’s astronomy degrees in 2021-2022.

Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 97%. The low undergrad student loan default rate of 0.5% 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%.

Full University of Virginia - Main Campus Astronomy & Astrophysics Report

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

• *Avg Salary and Avg 4-Year Grad Rate 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.