2022 Best Value Religious Ed Schools in Pennsylvania For Those Making $0-$30k

Students have lots of options to chooose from today when trying to decide which college to attend. College Factual has developed its “Best Value Religious Ed Schools in Pennsylvania For Those Making $0-$30k” ranking as one item you can use to help make this decision.

Religious Education is the 215th most popular major in the country with 1,336 degrees awarded in 2019-2020. In 2017-2018, religious education graduates who were awarded their degree in 2015-2017, earned an average of $28,663 and had an average of $31,603 in loans still to pay off.

Across Pennsylvania, there were 13 religious education graduates with average earnings and debt of $23,600 and $0 respectively.

For this year’s “Best Value Religious Ed Schools in Pennsylvania For Those Making $0-$30k” ranking, we looked at 2 colleges that offer a degree in religious education. Not only do the schools that top this list have excellent religious education programs, but they also cost less that schools of similar quality.

Some of the factors we look at when determining these rankings are overall quality of the religious education program at the school and the cost of the school after aid is awarded among other things. For more information, check out our ranking methodology.

One Size Does Not Fit All

When choosing the right school for you, it’s important to arm yourself with all the facts you can. To that end, we’ve created a number of major-specific rankings, including this “Best Value Religious Ed Schools in Pennsylvania For Those Making $0-$30k” list to help you make the college decision.

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. If you’re torn between two schools, you can use it to help you see how they stack up against one another. Bookmark it so you can compare any new schools that might interest you.

Best Value Religious Ed Schools in Pennsylvania For Those Making $0-$30k

The colleges and universities below are the best for pennsylvania religious ed students whose families make $0-$30k.

Top 2 Best Value Colleges for Religious Education (Income $0-$30k) in Pennsylvania

#1

Messiah University

Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania

#1 in overall quality

$20,824 Average Net Price

$36,838 Average Early-Career Earnings

Out of the 2 schools in the Best Value Religious Ed Schools in Pennsylvania For Those Making $0-$30k that were part of this year’s ranking, Messiah University landed the #1 spot on the list. Messiah University is located in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania and, has a small student population. In 2019-2020, this school awarded 12 ’s religious ed degrees to qualified students.

Messiah not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #1 on our “Best Religious Education Schools in Pennsylvania” list. It costs about $20,824 for pennsylvania religious ed students whose families make $0-$30k per year to attend Messiah University.

The low student loan default rate of 2.4% 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%. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 86%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.

Read full report on Religious Education at Messiah University

#2

University of Valley Forge

Phoenixville, Pennsylvania

#2 in overall quality

$19,085 Average Net Price

$24,450 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of Valley Forge. The school came in at #2 for the Best Value Religious Ed Schools in Pennsylvania For Those Making $0-$30k. UVF is a small school located in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania that handed out 1 ’s religious ed degrees in 2019-2020.

UVF not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #2 on our “Best Religious Education Schools in Pennsylvania” list. The yearly cost to attend University of Valley Forge is $19,085 for pennsylvania religious ed students whose families make $0-$30k.

Read more about Religious Education at University of Valley Forge

• Best Value Colleges for Religious Education (Income $0-$30k) in the Middle Atlantic Region
• Best Value Colleges for Religious Education (Income $0-$30k)

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 RichardF.

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