2023 Best Value Undergraduate Certificate Schools in Montana
Identifying High-Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing
With all the programs available today, it can be tough to choose which one is the best for you. 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 and bootcamps that offer short-term programs that open up more career options.
The Best Value Undergraduate Certificate Schools in Montana ranking is one of many tools that Course Advisor has developed to help you make your educational decision. Our analysis looked at 9 schools in Montana to see which undergraduate certificate programs offered the best value experiences for students with the aim of identifying those quality schools that are more affordable than some of their counterparts.
Our ranking of value is based on the quality of a program as defined in our per sticker price dollar. More specifically, we discount our quality score by the published tuition and fees charged by a school. This gives the cost per unit of quality for each college. The value is determined by how much quality your dollar buys.
In our regional and nationwide rankings, out-of-state tution and fees are used in our calculations. Average in-state tuition and fees are used for our statewide rankings.
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Top Value Undergraduate Certificate Schools in Montana
Learn more about these excellent schools below:
Our analysis found Highlands College of Montana Tech to be the best value school for students who want to pursue a undergraduate certificate in Montana. This very small public school is located in Butte, Montana, and it awarded 61 undergraduate certificates in 2020-2021.
Highlands College of Montana Tech undergraduate students pay an average of $9,391 in tuition and fees each year. By the time they get their undergraduate certificate, students from this school have racked up an average of $6,153 in student loans.
Depending on your major, you may be able to take online classes at Highlands College of Montana Tech. To give an idea of how popular online courses are at the school, 36% of undergraduates took at least one course online in 2019-2020.
Highlands College of Montana Tech did well in our overall quality rankings, too. It placed #1 on our Best Undergraduate Certificate Schools in Montana list.
The excellent undergraduate certificate programs at Helena College University of Montana helped the school earn the #2 place on this year’s ranking of the best value schools in Montana. Helena College is a small public school situated in Helena, Montana. It awarded 39 undergraduate certificates in 2020-2021.
Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at Helena College are $9,570 per year.
Some students may be able to take online classes at Helena College. To give an idea of how popular online courses are at the school, 40% of undergraduates took at least one course online in 2019-2020.
Out of the 9 schools in Montana that were part of this year’s value ranking, Montana State University - Billings landed the # 3 spot on the list. Montana State University - Billings is a public institution located in Billings, Montana. The school has a small population, and it awarded 44 undergraduate certificates in 2020-2021.
Montana State University - Billings undergraduate students pay an average of $19,352 in tuition and fees each year. On average, undergraduate certificate students take out $10,417 in loans while pursuing their degree.
One thing to take note of is that Montana State University - Billings does offer online classes in some areas. In fact, around 63% of the undergraduate population registered for at least one online class in 2019-2020.
Montana State University - Billings also took the #3 spot in our Best Undergraduate Certificate Schools in Montana rankings.
Out of the 9 schools in Montana that were part of this year’s value ranking, Montana State University - Northern landed the # 4 spot on the list. Montana State University - Northern is a public institution located in Havre, Montana. The school has a small population, and it awarded 20 undergraduate certificates in 2020-2021.
The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state undergraduate students at Montana State University - Northern are $18,665 a year.
Montana State University - Northern does have options available for those who want to take online classes. You will need to check with the school to see if they are available for your specific major. In 2019-2020 about 72% of the undergraduate students at the school chose to take one or more online courses.
In addition to its best value ranking, and one of the reasons why the school is on the list, Montana State University - Northern is ranked #4 for overall quality in Montana.
The excellent undergraduate certificate programs at Miles Community College helped the school earn the #5 place on this year’s ranking of the best value schools in Montana. Miles Community College is located in Miles City, Montana and has a very small student population. In 2020-2021, this school awarded 27 undergraduate certificates to qualified students.
The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state undergraduate students at Miles Community College are $9,840 a year.
You may have the opportunity to take online classes at Miles Community College. In 2019-2020 about 73% of the undergraduate students at the school chose to take one or more online courses.
Miles Community College also made our Best Undergraduate Certificate Schools in Montana list, coming in at #5.
With a ranking of #6, Montana State University did quite well on this year’s best value schools for students working on their undergraduate certificate. This fairly large public school is located in Bozeman, Montana, and it awarded 64 undergraduate certificates in 2020-2021.
The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state undergraduate students at MSU Bozeman are $28,264 a year. On average, undergraduate certificate students take out $12,079 in loans while pursuing their degree.
MSU Bozeman does offer online classes for certain degree levels. During the 2019-2020 year, about 96% of the undergraduates at the school took at least one online course.
MSU Bozeman not only placed well in our value ranking, but it is also #2 on our Best Undergraduate Certificate Schools in Montana list.
The University of Montana landed the #7 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value undergraduate certificate programs. UM is a public institution located in Missoula, Montana. The school has a fairly large population, and it awarded 238 undergraduate certificates in 2020-2021.
The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state undergraduate students at UM are $28,476 a year.
UM does offer online classes for certain degree levels. In fact, around 47% of the undergraduate population registered for at least one online class in 2019-2020.
Flathead Valley Community College ranked #8 on this year’s Best Value Undergraduate Certificate Schools in Montana list. Flathead Valley Community College is a small public school located in Kalispell, Montana that handed out 31 undergraduate certificates in 2020-2021.
The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state undergraduate students at Flathead Valley Community College are $12,643 a year. Undergraduate Certificate recipients from this school accumulate an average of $15,994 in student debt by the time they complete their degree.
Some students may be able to take online classes at Flathead Valley Community College. In fact, around 30% of the undergraduate population registered for at least one online class in 2019-2020.
Salish Kootenai College did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best value places for students to get an undergraduate certificate. It came in at #9 on the list. SKC is located in Pablo, Montana and has a very small student population. In 2020-2021, this school awarded 44 undergraduate certificates to qualified students.
Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at SKC are $11,583 per year. Undergraduate Certificate recipients from this school accumulate an average of $10,327 in student debt by the time they complete their degree.
SKC does have options available for those who want to take online classes. You will need to check with the school to see if they are available for your specific major. In fact, around 77% of the undergraduate population registered for at least one online class in 2019-2020.
Best Value Undergraduate Certificate Schools in the Rocky Mountains Region
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Notes and References
Footnotes
*These averages are for the top 9 schools only.
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%.
More about our data sources and methodologies.
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