2023 Best Value General Education Schools in Illinois
Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing
Finding the Best General Education School for You
General Education is the #36 most popular major in Illinois with 363 degrees and certificates awarded in 2020-2021.
There are so many programs in today's world that it can tough to figure out which one is the right one for you. You can choose a traditional brick and mortar school, or with the growth of online education, you can attend a school half-way across the country without even leaving your house. Also there are many trade schools that offer short-term programs that open up more career options.
To assist you in seeing some of the education options that are available to you, Grad Degree Search has created its Best Value General Education Schools in Illinois ranking. Our analysis looked at 9 schools in Illinois to see which programs offered the best value experiences for education students with the aim of identifying those quality schools that are more affordable than some of their counterparts.
This ranking is not just a list of inexpensive schools. We also consider each school's quality, since we believe a low-quality school may not be a 'bargain' at any price. 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.
For nationwide and regional rankings, we use out-of-state tuition and fees in our calculations. For statewide rankings, we use average in-state tuition and fees.
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2023 Best Value General Education Schools in Illinois
The following schools top our list of the Best Value General Education Colleges.
Best Illinois Schools for Affordable Quality in General Education
Our 2023 rankings named McKendree University the best value school in Illinois for general education students. Located in the suburb of Lebanon, McKendree is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.
The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at McKendree are $33,050 a year.
Read full report on General Education at McKendree University
A rank of #2 on this year’s list means University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is a great value for general education students. UIUC is a fairly large public school located in the small city of Champaign.
In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at UIUC are $17,634 per year.
UIUC not only placed well in our value ranking, but it is also #3 on our Best General Education Schools in Illinois list.
The excellent programs at Concordia University, Chicago helped the school earn the #3 place on this year’s ranking of the best general education schools in Illinois. Located in the large suburb of River Forest, Concordia University, Chicago is a private not-for-profit college with a medium-sized student population.
In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at Concordia University, Chicago are $34,310 per year.
Full General Education at Concordia University, Chicago Report
The excellent programs at Western Illinois University helped the school earn the #4 place on this year’s ranking of the best general education schools in Illinois. WIU is a medium-sized public school located in the remote town of Macomb.
The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at WIU are $13,297 a year.
Full General Education at Western Illinois University Report
You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Northern Illinois University. It ranked #5 on our 2023 Best Value General Education Schools in Illinois list. Located in the suburb of Dekalb, NIU is a public school with a fairly large student population.
In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at NIU are $14,738 per year.
Full General Education at Northern Illinois University Report
North Park University ranked #6 on this year’s Best Value General Education Schools in Illinois list. North Park is a small private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Chicago.
The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at North Park are $33,050 a year.
With a ranking of #7, Rockford University did quite well on this year’s best value schools for general education students. Rockford is a small private not-for-profit school located in the medium-sized city of Rockford.
The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at Rockford are $34,000 a year.
Elmhurst University ranked #8 on this year’s Best Value General Education Schools in Illinois list. Elmhurst is a small private not-for-profit school located in the large suburb of Elmhurst.
Elmhurst undergraduate students pay an average of $39,400 in in-state tuition and fees each year.
Northwestern University came in at #9 in this year’s edition of the Best Value General Education Schools in Illinois ranking. Northwestern is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the city of Evanston.
Northwestern undergraduate students pay an average of $60,768 in in-state tuition and fees each year.
Northwestern also made our Best General Education Schools in Illinois list, coming in at #1.
Best Value General Education Colleges in the Great Lakes Region
Explore all the Best Value General Education Colleges in the Great Lakes Area or other specific states within that region.
| State | Degrees Awarded |
|---|---|
| Michigan | 335 |
| Ohio | 434 |
| Indiana | 247 |
| Wisconsin | 261 |
More General Education Rankings in Illinois
Majors Related to Education
One of 14 majors within the area of study, general education has other similar majors worth exploring.
Most Popular Related Majors
| Related Major | Annual Graduates |
|---|---|
| Educational Administration | 45,458 |
| Teacher Education Grade Specific | 34,451 |
| Special Education | 25,158 |
| Teacher Education Subject Specific | 20,616 |
| Curriculum & Instruction | 19,784 |
Notes and References
*These averages are for the top 9 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).
- Credit for the banner image above goes to KOKUYO.
More about our data sources and methodologies.
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