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Best Value Music Schools in Iowa

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2023 Best Value Music Schools in Iowa

Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing

6 Colleges
$28,354 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$31,786 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Music School for You

In 2020-2021, 227 degrees and certificates were awarded to music students who went to a Iowa college or university. This makes it the #52 most popular major in the state.

Today's students have lots of options to pick from when considering higher education opportunities. Along with traditional schools that require in-person attendence, you can attend one of many reputable online schools. Some programs even offer a hybrid experience. Alternatively, you may choose a trade school that prepares you to enter the workforce with knowledge in a specific field.

To assist you in seeing some of the education options that are available to you, Course Advisor has created its Best Value Music Schools in Iowa ranking. This report analyzed 6 schools in Iowa to see which ones offered the best value programs for music 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 Music Schools in Iowa

The colleges and universities below are the best value schools for music majors pursuing a .

Best Iowa Schools for Affordable Quality in Music

#1

University of Northern Iowa

Cedar Falls, IA
$9,053 Average Tuition & Fees

Our 2023 rankings named University of Northern Iowa the best value school in Iowa for music students. Located in the city of Cedar Falls, UNI is a public college with a moderately-sized student population.

UNI undergraduate students pay an average of $9,053 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

UNI also made our Best Music Schools in Iowa list, coming in at #5.

Read full report on Music at University of Northern Iowa

$9,634 Average Tuition & Fees

The excellent programs at Iowa State University helped the school earn the #2 place on this year’s ranking of the best music schools in Iowa. Iowa State is a very large public school located in the small city of Ames.

Iowa State undergraduate students pay an average of $9,634 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Iowa State also made our Best Music Schools in Iowa list, coming in at #4.

Read More…

#3

University of Iowa

Iowa City, IA
$9,942 Average Tuition & Fees

Out of the 6 schools in Iowa that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Iowa landed the # 3 spot on the list. Located in the small city of Iowa City, Iowa is a public college with a fairly large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at Iowa are $9,942 a year. While working on their degree, music majors at Iowa accumulate an average of around $23,312 in student debt.

Iowa excels when it comes to quality. It’s ranked in the top 20% of all schools on our Best Music Schools in Iowa list.

Read full report on Music at University of Iowa

#4

Luther College

Decorah, IA
$46,760 Average Tuition & Fees

Out of the 6 schools in Iowa that were part of this year’s ranking, Luther College landed the # 4 spot on the list. Luther is a small private not-for-profit school located in the town of Decorah.

In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at Luther are $46,760 per year. After completing their degree, music graduates from Luther carry an average student debtload of $27,000.

Read full report on Music at Luther College

#5

Drake University

Des Moines, IA
$45,912 Average Tuition & Fees

The excellent programs at Drake University helped the school earn the #5 place on this year’s ranking of the best music schools in Iowa. Located in the medium-sized city of Des Moines, Drake is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.

Drake undergraduate students pay an average of $45,912 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

In addition to its best value ranking, and one of the reasons why the school is on the list, Drake is ranked #3 for overall quality for music in Iowa.

Full Music at Drake University Report

#6

Coe College

Cedar Rapids, IA
$48,822 Average Tuition & Fees

Coe College came in at #6 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Music Schools in Iowa ranking. Coe is a small private not-for-profit school located in the midsize city of Cedar Rapids.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at Coe are $48,822 a year.

Full Music at Coe College Report

Best Value Music Colleges in the Plains States Region

Explore all the Best Value Music Colleges in the Plains States Area or other specific states within that region.

State Degrees Awarded
Missouri 372
Minnesota 262
Kansas 189
Nebraska 129
North Dakota 76
South Dakota 33

Music is one of 10 different types of programs to choose from.

Related Major Annual Graduates
Fine & Studio Arts 37,413
Design & Applied Arts 36,301
Drama & Theater Arts 17,341
Film, Video & Photographic Arts 16,778
General Visual & Performing Arts 6,355

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 6 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).

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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