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Best Value Design & Applied Arts Schools in the Southwest Region

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2023 Best Value Design & Applied Arts Schools in the Southwest Region

Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing

8 Colleges
$21,652 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$29,079 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Design & Applied Arts School for You

Design & Applied Arts is the #91 most popular major in the country with 1,979 degrees and certificates awarded in 2020-2021.

It's not easy to decide which program to enroll in when you have so many options available. 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, Grad Degree Search has created its Best Value Design & Applied Arts Schools in the Southwest Region ranking. Our analysis looked at 8 schools in the Southwest Region to see which programs offered the best value experiences for design 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. 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.

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

2023 Best Value Design & Applied Arts Schools in the Southwest Region

The following schools top our list of the Best Value Design & Applied Arts Colleges.

Best Southwest Region Schools for Affordable Quality in Design & Applied Arts

Our analysis found Arizona State University - Skysong to be the best value school for design and applied arts students who want to pursue a degree in the Southwest Region . ASU - Skysong is a fairly large public school located in the medium-sized city of Scottsdale.

Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at ASU - Skysong are $13,092 per year.

On top of its placing in our value ranking, ASU - Skysong also did well on our Best Design & Applied Arts Schools in the Southwest Region list. It’s in the top 20% of all schools reviewed in this analysis.

Full Design & Applied Arts at Arizona State University - Skysong Report

A rank of #2 on this year’s list means The University of Texas at Austin is a great value for design and applied arts students. UT Austin is a very large public school located in the city of Austin.

Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at UT Austin are $40,996 per year.

In addition to its best value ranking, and one of the reasons why the school is on the list, UT Austin is ranked #2 for overall quality for design in the Southwest Region .

Read full report on Design & Applied Arts at The University of Texas at Austin

Out of the 8 schools in the Southwest Region that were part of this year’s ranking, Oklahoma State University - Main Campus landed the # 3 spot on the list. OSU is a very large public school located in the town of Stillwater.

Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at OSU are $24,764 per year.

On top of its placing in our value ranking, OSU also did well on our Best Design & Applied Arts Schools in the Southwest Region list. It’s in the top 20% of all schools reviewed in this analysis.

Full Design & Applied Arts at Oklahoma State University - Main Campus Report

$20,906 Average Tuition & Fees

A rank of #4 on this year’s list means University of North Texas is a great value for design and applied arts students. Located in the midsize city of Denton, UNT is a public school with a very large student population.

Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at UNT are $20,906 per year.

Read full report on Design & Applied Arts at University of North Texas

#5

University of Houston

Houston, TX

The excellent programs at University of Houston helped the school earn the #5 place on this year’s ranking of the best design and applied arts schools in the Southwest Region . Located in the large city of Houston, UH is a public college with a very large student population.

UH undergraduate students pay an average of $21,891 in tuition and fees each year.

As a testament to the quality of education it offers, UH also is in the top 15% of our Best Design & Applied Arts Schools in the Southwest Region ranking.

Full Design & Applied Arts at University of Houston Report

#6

Texas State University

San Marcos, TX
$22,559 Average Tuition & Fees

Texas State University landed the #6 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value design and applied arts programs. Located in the city of San Marcos, Texas State is a public college with a very large student population.

Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at Texas State are $22,559 per year.

Read full report on Design & Applied Arts at Texas State University

$18,917 Average Tuition & Fees

University of Central Oklahoma ranked #7 on this year’s Best Value Design & Applied Arts Schools in the Southwest Region list. UCO is a fairly large public school located in the suburb of Edmond.

Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at UCO are $18,917 per year.

Read full report on Design & Applied Arts at University of Central Oklahoma

With a ranking of #8, Arizona State University - Tempe did quite well on this year’s best value schools for design and applied arts students. ASU - Tempe is a very large public school located in the midsize city of Tempe.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state undergraduate student at ASU - Tempe are $29,438 a year.

Read full report on Design & Applied Arts at Arizona State University - Tempe

Best Design & Applied Arts Colleges by State

Explore the best design and applied arts schools for a specific state in the Southwest region.

State Degrees Awarded
Texas 51
Arizona 36
Oklahoma 4

Design & Applied Arts is one of 9 different types of programs to choose from.

Majors Similar to Design

Related Major Annual Graduates
Music 7,675
Fine & Studio Arts 3,224
Film, Video & Photographic Arts 1,704
Drama & Theater Arts 1,699
Arts & Media Management 1,184

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 8 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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