Best Value Schools' list of the 15 Cheapest Bachelor's Degrees in Gender and Women's Studies includes rewarding research and scholarship opportunities that prepare students for jobs in world-changing fields! Gender and women's studies majors are relative newcomers to colleges across the United States, but the number of degrees in the field, as well as the number of programs offered, have steadily increased over the decades. Gender and women's studies programs started popping up around the mid-1970s when the women's movement was in full swing. At the time, scholars felt that women's voices, as well as those of minorities and people who identified with the LGBTQ+ community, were underrepresented both on campus and within class material.
Gender and women's studies majors, along with related cultural studies programs, have grown over time to focus on feminism, inequality, race, class, and social justice. With these concentrations, it's no wonder that most grads choose high-impact jobs in education, law and social work, and employers seeking experts in diversity and inclusion are particularly drawn to grads from this field. According to government data summarized by Data USA, over 17,000 women's, cultural and gender studies degrees were awarded across the U.S. in 2016, about half of which were bachelors degrees. Grads make on average $77,000 a year, primarily as elementary, middle school and postsecondary teachers, lawyers and other judicial workers, as well as managers. Jobs seeking new talent in these areas are projected to rise at an average pace over the next several years, and most positions in these fields require a master's degree or higher.
A bachelor's degree in gender and women's studies can certainly be useful on its own, however. Employers are drawn to liberal arts majors in general because grads learn a variety of critical thinking, communication, writing, and analytical skills. According to the Pew Research Center, employment in occupations requiring high levels of social and analytical skills has skyrocketed over the last few decades, and pay is rising to meet the demand. Additionally, a majority of Americans support more gender equality and more diversity, making gender and women's studies majors essential in the workforce. Jobs in Human Resources, non-profit advocacy work, and marketing employ four-year grads for this very expertise. Whatever your career path, an affordable Bachelor's degree will certainly get you well on your way!
Selection Criteria
Best Value Schools publishes college degree rankings with the belief of how one's higher education should be, both, affordable and an investment of continued value for the students who pursue them. The staff of BVS collects data from reputable sources in order to calculate Net Price and the short and long-term value of every ranked degree. Collected data is simplified into weighted categories before scoring and then scaled through a BVS Score up to 100. The weighted categories are:
Degree Investment Return (25%)
Student & Alumni Evaluation (25%)
Cost Value (25%)
Matriculation (10%)
Academic Success (15%)
No matter what degree you decide on, we hope our research and support has made the selection process easier. There are numerous resources BVS utilizes to collect information on degrees, and we encourage you tocheck them out for yourself!
Here are the 15 cheapest Bachelor degrees in gender and women's studies!
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