2021 Best Geological & Earth Sciences Colleges for Non-Traditional Students in the Southwest Region
9Colleges
464Bachelor's Degrees
$28,819Avg Cost*
Finding the Best Geological & Earth Sciences Schools for Non-Traditional Students
This year's Best Geological & Earth Sciences Colleges for Non-Traditional Students in the Southwest Region ranking looked at 9 colleges that offer a bachelor's in geology. This ranking identifies schools with high-quality geological & earth sciences programs as well as strong support for students classified as non-traditional.
To come up with these rankings, we looked at factors such as affordability, and overall quality of the geological & earth sciences program at the school. See our ranking methodology to learn more.
As a non-traditional student, you have a lot to consider when it comes to choosing an education. That's why we've developed rankings specifically for you. Check out more major-related rankings here..
In addition to our rankings, you can take two colleges and compare them based on the criteria that matters most to you in our unique tool, College Combat.
Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.
2021 Best Geological & Earth Sciences Schools for Non-Traditional Students in the Southwest Region
Check out the geology programs at these schools if you want to see which ones are the best for non-traditional students.
Best Geological & Earth Sciences Schools for Non-Traditional Students
Texas A&M University - College Station tops the 2021 list of our schools in the Southwest Region that are best for non-traditional geological & earth sciences students. Texas A&M College Station is a fairly large public school located in the medium-sized city of College Station. As a testament to the quality of education offered at Texas A&M College Station, the school also landed the #2 rank in our Best Colleges for Geological & Earth Sciences in the Southwest Region ranking.
The school has a low student loan default rate of 0.6%. Approximately 24,343 students take at least one class online at Texas A&M College Station. There are roughly 9,943 part time students in attendance at Texas A&M College Station.
The University of Texas at Austin earned the #2 spot in our 2021 rankings. Located in the large city of Austin, UT Austin is a public college with a fairly large student population. UT Austin not only placed well in our non-traditional rankings. It is also #1 on our Best Colleges for Geological & Earth Sciences in the Southwest Region list.
The school has a low student loan default rate of 0.8%. There are approximately 23,198 students at UT Austin that take at least one class online. 3,479 students are part time.
The #3 spot in this year's ranking belongs to University of Arizona. University of Arizona is a fairly large public school located in the large city of Tucson. In addition to being on our best for non-traditional students list, University of Arizona has also earned the #4 rank in our Best Colleges for Geological & Earth Sciences in the Southwest Region ranking.
The school has a low student loan default rate of 1.6%. There are approximately 18,254 students at University of Arizona that take at least one class online. 12,642 of University of Arizona students are attending part time.
University of Houston comes in at #4 in this year's ranking. UH is a fairly large public school located in the city of Houston. In addition to being on our best for non-traditional students list, UH has also earned the #3 rank in our Best Colleges for Geological & Earth Sciences in the Southwest Region ranking.
The school has a low student loan default rate of 0.5%. There are approximately 26,121 students at UH that take at least one class online. There are roughly 13,663 part time students in attendance at UH.
Our rankings recognize The University of Texas of the Permian Basin as the #5 school in this year's rankings. Located in the medium-sized city of Odessa, UT Permian Basin is a public college with a moderately-sized student population. In addition to being on our best for non-traditional students list, UT Permian Basin has also earned the #6 rank in our Best Colleges for Geological & Earth Sciences in the Southwest Region ranking.
The student loan default rate at UT Permian Basin is lower than is typical, just 2.8% of students default in three years. 2,887 of UT Permian Basin students are exclusively distance learners. There are roughly 2,711 part time students in attendance at UT Permian Basin.
The #6 spot in this year's ranking belongs to The University of Texas at Arlington. Located in the large city of Arlington, UT Arlington is a public college with a fairly large student population. UT Arlington did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #5 on our Best Colleges for Geological & Earth Sciences in the Southwest Region list.
The school has a low student loan default rate of 1.4%. 17,309 of UT Arlington students are exclusively distance learners. 22,217 students are part time.
Sam Houston State University landed the #7 spot in our 2021 best geological & earth sciences schools for non-traditional students. Located in the distant town of Huntsville, SHSU is a public college with a very large student population. SHSU also took the #7 spot in our Best Colleges for Geological & Earth Sciences in the Southwest Region rankings.
The school has a low student loan default rate of 1.2%. There are approximately 8,795 students at SHSU that take at least one class online. There are roughly 6,353 part time students in attendance at SHSU.
Northern Arizona University earned the #8 spot in our 2021 rankings. NAU is a fairly large public school located in the city of Flagstaff. NAU did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #9 on our Best Colleges for Geological & Earth Sciences in the Southwest Region list.
The school has a low student loan default rate of 1.7%. Approximately 9,603 students take at least one class online at NAU. 6,368 of NAU students are attending part time.
The University of Texas at San Antonio comes in at #9 in this year's ranking. Located in the large city of San Antonio, UTSA is a public school with a fairly large student population. In addition to being on our best for non-traditional students list, UTSA has also earned the #8 rank in our Best Colleges for Geological & Earth Sciences in the Southwest Region ranking.
The school has a low student loan default rate of 1.4%. There are approximately 20,824 students at UTSA that take at least one class online. 10,436 of UTSA students are attending part time.
Non-Traditional Student Rankings in Majors Related to Geology
Geological & Earth Sciences is one of 8 different types of Physical Sciences programs to choose from.
Notes and References
Footnotes
*Avg Cost is for the top 9 schools only.
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 the rest 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).
