2024 Best Colleges for Accounting and Finance

SUMMARY

A degree in Accounting and Finance is a valuable choice and usually a requisite first step for students wanting to pursue a career as a public accountant, an auditor, or a managerial accountant. Interestingly, accounting and finance is a ​unique degree being the 219th most popular area of study. Last year alone, there were 933 accounting and finance diplomas received. In-state tuition for accounting and finance at private colleges is, on average, 3.8 times more pricey than their public equivalents.

With just 43 colleges having programs for this degree you may have a smaller selection of institutions that will have an option for you. If you are hoping to immerse yourself with other accounting and finance majors, consider universities in Pennsylvania which have more undergrads admitted to accounting and finance than any other state. More generally, the best region to get a degree in accounting and finance is in the New England region with Bentley University, Bridgewater State University, and Southern New Hampshire University best representing the region. Interestingly, our pick for the top conference to major in accounting and finance is the Northeast 10 Conference with Bentley University, Franklin Pierce University, and Southern New Hampshire University representing the conference. That being said, our selection for the best school for accounting and finance is Bentley University. You might also want to check out our list of best colleges.

The objectively 'best' school might not actually be the 'best' school for you. There can be a bunch of factors to think about when deciding on school. Things such as campus amenities, transportation services, and food might change your thoughts of where to go to university. Here at authority.org, we examined the pros and cons for you. If, for example, you want to know which accounting and finance school is home to the best college campus, the answer is Bentley University. If you are very interested in which college boasts the top campus, we have an entire list dedicated to that. We have carefully pored through professor reviews, student reviews, government databases, and more in order to evaluate every major in the United States in an unbiased and informative way. You can find our well researched list for the schools with the best student life&nbsphere and from that list, our selection for the college with the best student life for accounting and finance is Bentley University. Curious why? Keep reading to find out more about Authority's top choices. Some of our decisions will probably surprise you.

If price is a primary deciding factor in your decision on where to go to university, you might be cautious about Bucknell University. Bucknell University&nbspis the most expensive college for accounting and finance, at least for out of state enrollment. We do have an entire list of the most expensive&nbspuniversities that might put the expense of Bucknell University&nbspinto perspective. Additionally, you may care to know that accounting and finance is the 153rd most expensive program in America, with an average expense of $33,300. On a broader scale, the most expensive state for accounting and finance in the country is New York at Clarkson University and Fordham University, the primary universities in the state, of $49,858 and $52,980. Even more broadly, the most costly region of the U.S. for accounting and finance is the Mid East region which is best demonstrated with Fordham University with a cost of $52,980, Bucknell University with a cost of $57,882, and Drexel University with a cost of $52,146.

Our cheapest region for accounting and finance is the New England region which is represented by Bridgewater State University with a cost of $7,050, Salem State University with a cost of $7,050, and Granite State College with a cost of $8,760. More optimistically, the most affordable university for accounting and finance is Bridgewater State University. Our comprehensive list of the most affordable colleges can be found here.

In-state students can expect to pay in the neighborhood of $10,300 for a degree in accounting and finance. The cost increases dramatically to an average of $14,400 for an out-of-state public-school undergrad. On that note, our choice for the university representing the best value for accounting and finance: Bentley University. Here you can see our comprehensive list of the colleges we believe to be the best value&nbspoverall. That being said, this list is based on being an out-of-state student. The value proposition changes when it comes to in-state tuition, but we do not know in which states any one student has residency.

Earnings for accounting and finance majors range widely, but two years after leaving college students will often make in the neighborhood of $64,000. There is a lot of variation in earnings potential; highest paid earners can enjoy pay up to $134,000. Even straight out of university, the lowest earning positions within the accounting and finance space earn $29,900, which is an alright wage. The top earning grads for accounting and finance graduated from Bentley University&nbspand if you want to find the schools with all of the highest earning graduates, we have that too.

The prevailing diversity of accounting and finance ranks on the higher end, being in the 63rd percentile of all programs. The school with the most composite diversity for accounting and finance is Southern New Hampshire University&nbspand here you can find our general list for the colleges with the most diversity. The overall financial diversity of Accounting and Finance only sits within the 12th percentile of all majors. Racial diversity is greater than financial diversity, ranking in the 54th percentile. White students make up the largest proportion, 60%, of scholars studying accounting and finance. Additionally, 58% of undergraduates pursuing an accounting and finance major are men.

The median rating of accounting and finance professors is 3.6 stars, a ranking that is 10% lower than the median score for all majors; this is a subpar ranking. If you are curious about the most popular accounting and finance instructor nationally, consider looking up Jim Brau from Brigham Young University-Provo. This may be shocking, but the best rated accounting and finance professors from student rankings come from Brigham Young University-Provo. If we consider data beyond just rankings it becomes clear that the school possessing the overall best professors for accounting and finance is Bentley University. One can find an explanation of our ever evolving ranking methodology of the best overall professors here, as well as some of the top professors in the U.S.

Finally, the most difficult university to get into for accounting and finance is Bucknell University. While we do not necessarily see the value in it, we have an extensive page of the hardest colleges to get into. That being said, here at Authority we hope you understand that considering college with context primarily built on superlatives can create problems. We encourage you to explore our other pages on individual universities and read a few of Authority's informative background pages on essential details to think about as your university search continues.