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2022 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Materials Sciences (Income $48-$75k)

7 Ranked Colleges
219 Degrees Awarded
$60,225 Avg Salary
Best Value Materials Science Schools for a Bachelor's 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 Materials Science Schools for a Bachelor’s For Those Making $48-$75k” ranking is part of that endeavor.

Materials Sciences is the 258th most popular major in the country with 689 degrees awarded in 2019-2020. In 2017-2018, materials sciences graduates who were awarded their degree in 2015-2017, earned an average of $60,225 and had an average of $23,698 in loans still to pay off.

At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 219 materials sciences graduates with average earnings and debt of $38,303 and $24,501 respectively.

This year’s “Best Value Materials Science Schools for a Bachelor’s For Those Making $48-$75k” ranking analyzed 7 colleges that offered a degree in materials sciences. This ranking identifies schools with high-quality materials sciences 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 materials sciences program at the school and the cost to attend the school once aid has been awarded. See our ranking methodology to learn more.

More Ways to Rank Materials Sciences Schools

Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we’ve developed a number of rankings, including this “Best Value Materials Science Schools for a Bachelor’s For Those Making $48-$75k” list, to help you choose the best school for you.

In addition to College Factual’s rankings, you may want to take a look at College Combat, our unique tool that lets you pit your favorite schools head-to-head and compare how they rate on factors that most interest 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 Materials Science Schools for a Bachelor’s For Those Making $48-$75k

The colleges and universities below are the best for bachelor’s degree materials science students whose families make $48-$75k.

Top 7 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Materials Sciences (Income $48-$75k)

#1

Northwestern University

Evanston, Illinois
#2 in overall quality

Out of the 7 schools in the Best Value Materials Science Schools for a Bachelor’s For Those Making $48-$75k that were part of this year’s ranking, Northwestern University landed the #1 spot on the list. Northwestern University is a large private not-for-profit school situated in Evanston, Illinois. It awarded 2 bachelors’s materials science degrees in 2019-2020.

Northwestern also took the #2 spot in our “Best Materials Sciences Bachelor’s Degree Schools” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for Northwestern University is $6,452 for Bachelor’s Degree Materials Science students whose families make $48-$75k.

The student-to-faculty ratio of 6 to 1 is a sign that students will have more opportunities to engage with their professors one-on-one. Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 97%. The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 0.8%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.

Full Northwestern University Materials Sciences Report

#3 in overall quality

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Columbia University in the City of New York. The school came in at #2 for the Best Value Materials Science Schools for a Bachelor’s For Those Making $48-$75k. New York, New York is the setting for this large institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out bachelors’s materials science degrees to 5 students in 2019-2020.

Columbia not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #3 on our “Best Materials Sciences Bachelor’s Degree Schools” list. The estimated yearly cost for Columbia is $5,887 for bachelor’s degree materials science students whose families make $48-$75k.

With a student-to-faculty ratio of 6 to 1, it’s easy to see that the school is committed to helping their undergraduates succeed. The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 2.1%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 95%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.

Full Columbia Materials Sciences Report

#4 in overall quality

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of California - Berkeley. It ranked #3 on our 2022 Best Value Materials Science Schools for a Bachelor’s For Those Making $48-$75k list. University of California - Berkeley is a large school located in Berkeley, California that handed out 36 bachelors’s materials science degrees in 2019-2020.

UC Berkeley not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #4 on our “Best Materials Sciences Bachelor’s Degree Schools” list. It costs about $13,081 for bachelor’s degree materials science students whose families make $48-$75k per year to attend University of California - Berkeley.

The low student loan default rate of 1.7% 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%. Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 96%.

Full UC Berkeley Materials Sciences Report

#4

University of California - Los Angeles

Los Angeles, California

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of California - Los Angeles. It ranked #4 on our 2022 Best Value Materials Science Schools for a Bachelor’s For Those Making $48-$75k list. University of California - Los Angeles is a large school located in Los Angeles, California that handed out 19 bachelors’s materials science degrees in 2019-2020.

UCLA also took the #5 spot in our “Best Materials Sciences Bachelor’s Degree Schools” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for University of California - Los Angeles is $13,081 for bachelor’s degree materials science students whose families make $48-$75k.

Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 96%. The student loan default rate at the school is 1.0%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

Read more about Materials Sciences at UCLA

#5

Carnegie Mellon University

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Carnegie Mellon University. The school came in at #5 for the Best Value Materials Science Schools for a Bachelor’s For Those Making $48-$75k. Located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, this fairly large private not-for-profit school awarded 34 degrees to qualified bachelors’s materials science students 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 Materials Sciences Bachelor’s Degree Schools” ranking. The yearly cost to attend Carnegie Mellon University is $18,276 for bachelor’s degree materials science 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 impressive student-to-faculty ratio of 5 to 1 means that students may have more opportunities to work more closely with their professors than they would at other schools. The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 0.6%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.

Read more about Materials Sciences at Carnegie Mellon

#6

University of Arizona

Tucson, Arizona

University of Arizona landed the #6 spot on the 2022 Best Value Materials Science Schools for a Bachelor’s For Those Making $48-$75k ranking. University of Arizona is located in Tucson, Arizona and, has a large student population. In 2019-2020, this school awarded 17 bachelors’s materials science degrees to qualified students.

University of Arizona also took the #6 spot in our “Best Materials Sciences Bachelor’s Degree Schools” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for University of Arizona is $15,399 for bachelor’s degree materials science students whose families make $48-$75k.

The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 85%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.

Read full report on Materials Sciences at University of Arizona

University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire landed the #7 spot on the 2022 Best Value Materials Science Schools for a Bachelor’s For Those Making $48-$75k ranking. UW - Eau Claire is a fairly large school located in Eau Claire, Wisconsin that handed out 5 bachelors’s materials science degrees in 2019-2020.

UW - Eau Claire also took the #7 spot in our “Best Materials Sciences Bachelor’s Degree Schools” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire is $14,887 for bachelor’s degree materials science students whose families make $48-$75k.

Read more about Materials Sciences at University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire

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.

Credits

  • Credit for the banner image above goes to Per Henning.

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