College Affordability Guide
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What it is: The College Affordability Guide pulls data from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) as well independent organizations like the College Board to rank the 20 Most Affordable Pharmacy Schools. “Affordable” is defined as “cost-effective for the lowest-income families.”
Why it Matters to You: The College Affordability Guide’s analysis is designed to find schools that are affordable not only for the average student, but for lower-income students as well. The website lists the 20 most affordable schools, summarizes the school’s pharmacy program, and links to the school’s website. The website also offers educational guidance such as description of the various types of pharmacy credential and sample academic coursework.
Considerations: The rankings are based on “CAG score.” Unfortunately the website does not break down the score to its various components to provide detailed insight on why the score was awarded. That said, the College Affordability Guide provides a general sense of how its calculation works:
“We look at the fundamentals first: not-for-profit status, at least 500 total students, Associate or higher degrees, and at least one non-standard way for students to earn college credits, such as AP or ROTC credit. We also require that at least 20% of students be Pell Grant recipients.
We look for the most affordable schools and equitable use of financial aid money. This means an overall average net price of $15,000/year or less for families making $48,000/year or less.
Finally, we look for schools where at least 50% of students graduate or transfer to another school within 6 years, and where at least 50% of students with student debt are actively paying it down 3 years after they graduate.”
Created By: College Affordability Guide
Key Sample Findings
University of Southern California-Irvine tops traditional pharmacy schools with Texas A&M University-College Station a close second.
Links
You May Also Be Interested In
American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) - Financial Aid and Scholarships. See also their Student Center which has a wealth of information for current and future pharmacy students.
