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Best Value Social Sciences Doctor's Degree Schools in the Plains States Region

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2023 Best Value Social Sciences Doctor's Degree Schools in the Plains States Region

Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing

9 Colleges
$30,320 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$62,624 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Social Sciences Doctor's Degree School for You

In 2020-2021, 205,984 social sciences students received a degree or certificate, making the major the #6 most popular in the country.

Today's students have lots of options to pick from when considering higher education opportunities. You can choose a traditional brick and mortar school, or with the growth of online education, you can attend a school half-way across the country without even leaving your house. Also there are many trade schools that offer short-term programs that open up more career options.

Along with in-depth profiles of schools and the programs they offer, Course Advisor has created the Best Value Social Sciences Doctor's Degree Schools in the Plains States Region to help you in your search for the best school for you. This report analyzed 9 schools in the Plains States Region to see which ones offered the best value doctor's degree programs for social sciences students. The goal was to highlight schools with more affordable prices than others offering similar quality experiences.

When determining this ranking, we place a high emphasis on the school's quality as well as its sticker price. Even though a college may be affordable, it may not offer value. Specifically, our score for quality is discounted by the published tuition and fees charged by the given college. This gives the cost per unit of quality for each college. The more quality your dollar buys, the better the value.

Our calculations use out-of-state tuition and fees in our nationwide and regional rankings. For statewide rankings, we use average in-state tuition and fees.

2023 Best Value Social Sciences Doctor’s Degree Schools in the Plains States Region

The colleges and universities below are the best value schools for social sciences majors pursuing a doctor's degree.

Best Plains States Region Schools for Affordable Quality for a Doctorate in Social Sciences

Our analysis found University of Nebraska - Lincoln to be the best value school for social sciences students who want to pursue a doctor’s degree in the Plains States Region . Located in the large city of Lincoln, UNL is a public school with a fairly large student population.

Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at UNL are $19,541 per year.

Read full report on Social Sciences at University of Nebraska - Lincoln

A rank of #2 on this year’s list means Iowa State University is a great value for social sciences students working on their doctor’s degree. Iowa State is a fairly large public school located in the small city of Ames.

Iowa State graduate students pay an average of $26,948 in tuition and fees each year.

In addition to its great value ranking, Iowa State is in the top 15% of all schools on our Best Social Sciences Doctor’s Degree Schools in the Plains States Region list.

Full Social Sciences at Iowa State University Report

#3

Kansas State University

Manhattan, KS

Out of the 9 schools in the Plains States Region that were part of this year’s ranking, Kansas State University landed the # 3 spot on the list. K -State is a fairly large public school located in the small city of Manhattan.

Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at K -State are $23,949 per year.

Read More…

#4

University of Kansas

Lawrence, KS

A rank of #4 on this year’s list means University of Kansas is a great value for social sciences students working on their doctor’s degree. Located in the small city of Lawrence, KU is a public college with a fairly large student population.

KU graduate students pay an average of $25,007 in tuition and fees each year.

Full Social Sciences at University of Kansas Report

The excellent doctor’s degree programs at University of Minnesota - Twin Cities helped the school earn the #5 place on this year’s ranking of the best value social sciences schools in the Plains States Region . Located in the city of Minneapolis, UMN Twin Cities is a public school with a fairly large student population.

UMN Twin Cities graduate students pay an average of $29,262 in tuition and fees each year.

Full Social Sciences at University of Minnesota - Twin Cities Report

University of Missouri - Columbia landed the #6 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value doctor’s degree social sciences programs. Mizzou is a very large public school located in the city of Columbia.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at Mizzou are $28,550 a year.

Full Social Sciences at University of Missouri - Columbia Report

#7

University of Iowa

Iowa City, IA

University of Iowa came in at #7 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Social Sciences Doctor’s Degree Schools in the Plains States Region ranking. Located in the small city of Iowa City, Iowa is a public school with a fairly large student population.

Iowa graduate students pay an average of $31,012 in tuition and fees each year.

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With a ranking of #8, University of Missouri - St Louis did quite well on this year’s best value schools for social sciences students working on their doctor’s degree. UMSL is a large public school located in the suburb of Saint Louis.

UMSL graduate students pay an average of $30,756 in tuition and fees each year.

Read full report on Social Sciences at University of Missouri - St Louis

Washington University in St Louis did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for social sciences students to get a doctor’s degree. It came in at #9 on the list. Located in the suburb of Saint Louis, WUSTL is a private not-for-profit college with a large student population.

Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at WUSTL are $58,288 per year.

As a testament to the quality of education it offers, WUSTL also is in the top 10% of our Best Social Sciences Doctor’s Degree Schools in the Plains States Region ranking.

Read More…

Best Social Sciences Colleges by State

Explore the best social sciences colleges for a specific state in the Plains States region.

State Degrees Awarded
Kansas 1,073
Minnesota 2,741
Iowa 1,455
South Dakota 262
Missouri 2,156
Nebraska 833
North Dakota 194

Social Sciences Majors to Study

Major Annual Graduates
Political Science & Government 49,282
Economics 49,055
Sociology 38,475
General Social Sciences 18,997
International Relations & National Security 14,306
Anthropology 11,415
Criminology 11,039
Geography & Cartography 8,526
Other Social Sciences 2,414
Urban Studies 1,507
Sociology & Anthropology 541
Archeology 339
Demography & Population Studies 88

Related Major Annual Graduates
Education 327,871
Psychology 195,678
Communication & Journalism 120,571
Family, Consumer & Human Sciences 55,820
History 32,731

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 9 schools only.

  • 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).
  • Credit for the banner image above goes to AndrГ© KГјnzelmann.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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