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Best Value Mechanical Engineering Master's Degree Schools in Illinois

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2023 Best Value Mechanical Engineering Master's Degree Schools in Illinois

Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing

8 Colleges
$22,095 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$83,900 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Mechanical Engineering Master's Degree School for You

With 346 degrees and certificates handed out in 2020-2021, mechanical engineering is the #38 most popular major in Illinois.

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're no longer limited to schools in your local area, either, since online programs are becoming more prevalent. Or you may find the programs at a trade school to be a better alternative for you.

To help you arm yourself with the information you need to make your decision, Grad Degree Search has developed this Best Value Mechanical Engineering Master's Degree Schools in Illinois ranking. Our analysis looked at 8 schools in Illinois to see which master's degree programs offered the best value experiences for ME 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.

2023 Best Value Mechanical Engineering Master’s Degree Schools in Illinois

The following schools top our list of the Best Value Mechanical Engineering Master's Degree Colleges.

Best Illinois Schools for Affordable Quality for a Master's in Mechanical Engineering

Our analysis found Northern Illinois University to be the best value school for mechanical engineering students who want to pursue a master’s degree in Illinois. Located in the suburb of Dekalb, NIU is a public college with a large student population.

NIU graduate students pay an average of $11,390 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Read full report on Mechanical Engineering at Northern Illinois University

The excellent master’s degree programs at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville helped the school earn the #2 place on this year’s ranking of the best value mechanical engineering schools in Illinois. Located in the suburb of Edwardsville, SIUE is a public college with a fairly large student population.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at SIUE are $9,316 per year.

Read full report on Mechanical Engineering at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. It ranked #3 on our 2023 Best Value Mechanical Engineering Master’s Degree Schools in Illinois list. UIUC is a very large public school located in the small city of Champaign.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at UIUC are $17,823 per year.

UIUC did well in our overall quality rankings, too. It placed #3 on our Best Mechanical Engineering Master’s Degree Schools in Illinois list.

Read More…

#4

Bradley University

Peoria, IL

Out of the 8 schools in Illinois that were part of this year’s ranking, Bradley University landed the # 4 spot on the list. Bradley is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit school located in the medium-sized city of Peoria.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at Bradley are $17,400 a year.

Read More…

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Southern Illinois University Carbondale. It ranked #5 on our 2023 Best Value Mechanical Engineering Master’s Degree Schools in Illinois list. Located in the small city of Carbondale, SIUC is a public school with a large student population.

SIUC graduate students pay an average of $16,162 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Read More…

University of Illinois at Chicago landed the #6 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value master’s degree mechanical engineering programs. Located in the large city of Chicago, UIC is a public school with a very large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at UIC are $17,277 a year.

Read More…

With a ranking of #7, Illinois Institute of Technology did quite well on this year’s best value schools for mechanical engineering students working on their master’s degree. Illinois Tech is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Chicago.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at Illinois Tech are $30,822 a year.

Read full report on Mechanical Engineering at Illinois Institute of Technology

#8

Northwestern University

Evanston, IL

Northwestern University landed the #8 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value master’s degree mechanical engineering programs. Northwestern is a very large private not-for-profit school located in the small city of Evanston.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at Northwestern are $56,567 a year.

Northwestern did well in our overall quality rankings, too. It placed #1 on our Best Mechanical Engineering Master’s Degree Schools in Illinois list.

Read full report on Mechanical Engineering at Northwestern University

Best Value Mechanical Engineering Colleges in the Great Lakes Region

Explore all the Best Value Mechanical Engineering Colleges in the Great Lakes Area or other specific states within that region.

State Degrees Awarded
Michigan 592
Ohio 395
Indiana 282
Wisconsin 96

Mechanical Engineering is one of 39 different types of programs to choose from.

Related Major Annual Graduates
Electrical Engineering 11,021
Civil Engineering 6,042
Computer Engineering 5,557
Biomedical Engineering 4,252
General Engineering 3,548

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 8 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 Michel Villeneuve.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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