So, you're thinking about attending a college or university in Nebraska?

Nebraska, a Great Plains state, is a leading farming state. Through the use of scientific farming methods, Nebraskans have managed to turn the state prairie land into a land of ranches and farms. The state of Nebraska is located in the central area of the U.S. and is bordered by South Dakota to the north, Iowa and Missouri to the east, Kansas and Colorado to the south, and Wyoming and Montana to the west.

The state is made up of two distinct land regions. In the easternmost portion of the state are gently rolling hills caused by the scouring of Ice Age glaciers. In western Nebraska, the majority of the land occupies the Great Plains, a relatively flat region.

The state of Nebraska experiences significant seasonal variations in both temperature and precipitation. While the average temperatures are somewhat uniform across the state, the average annual precipitation ranges from around 31.5 inches in the southeast corner to about 13.8 inches in the Panhandle region. Throughout the state, snowfall each winter is fairly even. Most of Nebraska receives somewhere between 25-35 inches of snow per year.

Thunderstorms are common throughout Nebraska. The state is also located within Tornado Alley, which means tornados in this state are common and can, at times, be devastating. If you are planning on living or traveling in Nebraska, you should know what to do if a tornado occurs, especially if you are there during tornado season, which usually occurs during the spring.

The estimated population of Nebraska in 2006 was 1,768,331. This included, as of 2004, approximately 84,000 foreign-born residents, which is around 4.8% of the population. Nebraska is also known to have the largest Czech-American population, in terms of percentage, in the entire nation, with about 4.9% of the state's residents falling under this category.

For the most part, Nebraska is considered a solidly Republican state. Since 1940, Republicans have won the state in all but one presidential election, that of Lyndon Johnson in 1964. In 2004, George W. Bush carried the state by a margin of 33%, with 65.9% of the state's total vote.

A considerable portion of the residents in Nebraska are Christians. 90% of the total population are affiliated with this religion, with 61% being Protestant and 28% being Roman Catholic. Only 1% of Nebraskans say they follow another religion and 9% consider themselves to be non-religious.

The income tax in Nebraska is broken into four distinct brackets which range from 2.56% to 6.84%. The state sales tax is currently 5.5%. In addition to this, however, some Nebraska cities impose a city sales and use tax, up to a maximum percentage of 1.5%. Counties are also allowed to levy sales taxes, though only one county in the state presently does so.

Several colleges and universities are located within the state of Nebraska. Some of these are:

• The University of Nebraska

• Nebraska State College

To find more information about universities and colleges in this area, visit the Online College Degrees page on this website.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Nebraska".

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