Log in

Education

Arizona’s best value for college calls Prescott home

For the fourth year in a row, state schools beat out for top spot

Posted 3/11/21

For the fourth year in a row, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University has topped the list of one study’s list of best value colleges in Arizona.

You must be a member to read this story.

Join our family of readers for as little as $5 per month and support local, unbiased journalism.


Already have an account? Log in to continue.

Current print subscribers can create a free account by clicking here

Otherwise, follow the link below to join.

To Our Valued Readers –

Visitors to our website will be limited to five stories per month unless they opt to subscribe. The five stories do not include our exclusive content written by our journalists.

For $6.99, less than 20 cents a day, digital subscribers will receive unlimited access to YourValley.net, including exclusive content from our newsroom and access to our Daily Independent e-edition.

Our commitment to balanced, fair reporting and local coverage provides insight and perspective not found anywhere else.

Your financial commitment will help to preserve the kind of honest journalism produced by our reporters and editors. We trust you agree that independent journalism is an essential component of our democracy. Please click here to subscribe.

Sincerely,
Charlene Bisson, Publisher, Independent Newsmedia

Please log in to continue

Log in
I am anchor
Education

Arizona’s best value for college calls Prescott home

For the fourth year in a row, state schools beat out for top spot

Posted

For the fourth year in a row, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University has topped the list of one study’s list of best value colleges in Arizona.

The university, based in Prescott, beat out Arizona State University in Tempe, the University of Arizona in Tucson and Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff for the honor, bestowed upon it by SmartAsset.  The study has been conducted for the past seven years. 

The study’s "Best Value Colleges" is determined by five factors: tuition, student living costs, scholarship and grant offerings, student retention rate and starting salaries for recent graduates. All five factors are weighed against one another to create the College Education Value Index that determined the ranking. 

Embry-Riddle came out with an index of 57.03, far surpassing ASU’s 49.84. UArizona and NAU earned 49.34 and 40.38 points, respectively. 

While the aeronautical university costs $35,654 per year in tuition for in-state students, Embry-Riddle exceeded Arizona’s other higher education institutions in the average scholarships or grants given, and the average starting salary for new graduates.

The school gives out an average of over $20,000 per year to students who go on to earn an average of $69,200 directly out of college. 

While student living costs in Prescott are high at $17,392, the student retention rate is solid at 83%. But Embry-Riddle was bested in that category by ASU, which has a retention rate of 88%.

NAU also boasted the lowest student living costs out of the Arizona colleges included in the study, with a total of $15,702 to go to school in Flagstaff. However, it also had the lowest salary for graduating students with an average of $50,900 per year. 

Embry-Riddle operates one other campus in the U.S. in Daytona Beach, Fla.