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2022 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Materials Sciences (With Aid)

7 Ranked Colleges
219 Degrees Awarded
$20,400 Avg Net Price*
Best Value Materials Science Schools for a Bachelor's For Those Getting Aid

Students have lots of options to chooose from today when trying to decide which college to attend. 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 Getting Aid” ranking is part of that endeavor.

In 2019-2020, 689 people earned their degree in materials sciences, making the major the 258th most popular in the United States. 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 Getting Aid” ranking analyzed 7 colleges that offered a degree in materials sciences. The schools that top this list are recognized because they have great materials sciences programs and 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 materials sciences program at the school. For more information, check out our ranking methodology.

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 Getting Aid” list, to help you choose the best school for you.

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.

Best Value Materials Science Schools for a Bachelor’s For Those Getting Aid

The following schools top our list of the Best Best Value Materials Science Schools for a Bachelor’s For Those Getting Aid.

Top 7 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Materials Sciences (With Aid)

#4 in overall quality

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of California - Berkeley. The school came in at #1 for the Best Value Materials Science Schools for a Bachelor’s For Those Getting Aid. Located in Berkeley, California, this large public school awarded 36 degrees to qualified bachelors’s materials science students in 2019-2020.

UC Berkeley also took the #4 spot in our “Best Materials Sciences Bachelor’s Degree Schools” ranking. The yearly cost to attend UC Berkeley is $15,329 for Bachelor’s Degree Materials Science students with aid.

With a freshman retention rate of 96%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students. 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%.

Full University of California - Berkeley Materials Sciences Report

#3 in overall quality

Out of the 7 schools in the Best Value Materials Science Schools for a Bachelor’s For Those Getting Aid that were part of this year’s ranking, Columbia University in the City of New York landed the #2 spot on the list. 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. It costs about $23,306 for bachelor’s degree materials science students with aid per year to attend Columbia University in the City of New York.

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 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. With a freshman retention rate of 95%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students.

Read full report on Materials Sciences at Columbia University in the City of New York

#3

University of California - Los Angeles

Los Angeles, California

Out of the 7 schools in the Best Value Materials Science Schools for a Bachelor’s For Those Getting Aid that were part of this year’s ranking, University of California - Los Angeles landed the #3 spot on the list. Located in Los Angeles, California, this large public school handed out 19 diplomas to qualified bachelors’s materials science students in 2019-2020.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at UCLA, the school also landed the #5 spot in our “Best Materials Sciences Bachelor’s Degree Schools” ranking. It costs about $14,279 for bachelor’s degree materials science students with aid per year to attend University of California - Los Angeles.

The low student loan default rate of 1.0% 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%.

Read full report on Materials Sciences at University of California - Los Angeles

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire. The school came in at #4 for the Best Value Materials Science Schools for a Bachelor’s For Those Getting Aid. University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire is located in Eau Claire, Wisconsin and, has a fairly large student population. In 2019-2020, this school awarded 5 bachelors’s materials science degrees to qualified students.

UW - Eau Claire not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #7 on our “Best Materials Sciences Bachelor’s Degree Schools” list. The yearly cost to attend University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire is $16,020 for Bachelor’s Degree Materials Science students with aid.

Read full report on Materials Sciences at University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire

#5

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 Getting Aid that were part of this year’s ranking, Northwestern University landed the #5 spot on the list. Northwestern is a large school located in Evanston, Illinois that handed out 2 bachelors’s materials science degrees in 2019-2020.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at Northwestern, the school also landed the #2 spot in our “Best Materials Sciences Bachelor’s Degree Schools” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for Northwestern University is $24,664 for bachelor’s degree materials science students with aid.

The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 97%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year. The low student loan default rate of 0.8% 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%. Since the school has a student-to-faculty ratio of 6 to 1, those pursuing a degree will have more opportunities to interact with their professors.

Read more about Materials Sciences at Northwestern

#6

University of Arizona

Tucson, Arizona

University of Arizona ranked #6 on this year’s Best Value Materials Science Schools for a Bachelor’s For Those Getting Aid list. This large school is located in Tucson, Arizona, and it awarded 17 bachelors’s materials science degrees in 2019-2020.

University of Arizona did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #6 on our “Best Materials Sciences Bachelor’s Degree Schools” list. It costs about $15,016 for bachelor’s degree materials science students with aid per year to attend University of Arizona.

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 more about Materials Sciences at University of Arizona

#7

Carnegie Mellon University

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Carnegie Mellon University came in at #7 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Materials Science Schools for a Bachelor’s For Those Getting Aid ranking. Carnegie Mellon University is a fairly large private not-for-profit school situated in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It awarded 34 bachelors’s materials science degrees in 2019-2020.

Carnegie Mellon did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #1 on our “Best Materials Sciences Bachelor’s Degree Schools” list. The estimated yearly cost for Carnegie Mellon is $34,508 for Bachelor’s Degree Materials Science students with aid.

With a freshman retention rate of 96%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students. 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 low student loan default rate of 0.6% 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%.

Read full report on Materials Sciences at Carnegie Mellon University

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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