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Best Value Area Studies Schools in the Great Lakes Region

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2023 Best Value Area Studies Schools in the Great Lakes Region

Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing

8 Colleges
$39,690 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$34,342 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Area Studies School for You

Area Studies is the #96 most popular major in the country with 1,825 degrees and certificates awarded in 2020-2021.

It's not easy to decide which program to enroll in when you have so many options available. Along with traditional schools that require in-person attendence, you can attend one of many reputable online schools. Some programs even offer a hybrid experience. Alternatively, you may choose a trade school that prepares you to enter the workforce with knowledge in a specific field.

Along with in-depth profiles of schools and the programs they offer, Grad Degree Search has created the Best Value Area Studies Schools in the Great Lakes Region to help you in your search for the best school for you. This report analyzed 8 schools in the Great Lakes Region to see which ones offered the best value programs for area studies students. The goal was to highlight schools with more affordable prices than others offering similar quality experiences.

Our ranking of value is based on the quality of a program as defined in our per sticker price dollar. 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.

In our regional and nationwide rankings, out-of-state tution and fees are used in our calculations. For statewide rankings, we use average in-state tuition and fees.

2023 Best Value Area Studies Schools in the Great Lakes Region

The following schools top our list of the Best Value Area Studies Colleges.

Best Great Lakes Region Schools for Affordable Quality in Area Studies

Our analysis found University of Wisconsin - Madison to be the best value school for area studies students who want to pursue a degree in the Great Lakes Region . UW - Madison is a fairly large public school located in the city of Madison.

Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at UW - Madison are $38,608 per year.

UW - Madison excels when it comes to quality. It’s ranked in the top 10% of all schools on our Best Area Studies Schools in the Great Lakes Region list.

Read full report on Area Studies at University of Wisconsin - Madison

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The school came in at #2 on this year’s Best Value Area Studies Schools in the Great Lakes Region list. UIUC is a very large public school located in the small city of Champaign.

Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at UIUC are $37,632 per year.

UIUC also made our Best Area Studies Schools in the Great Lakes Region list, coming in at #5.

Read full report on Area Studies at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

$30,370 Average Tuition & Fees

A rank of #3 on this year’s list means University of Illinois at Chicago is a great value for area studies students. Located in the city of Chicago, UIC is a public college with a very large student population.

Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at UIC are $30,370 per year.

Full Area Studies at University of Illinois at Chicago Report

Out of the 8 schools in the Great Lakes Region that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor landed the # 4 spot on the list. U-M is a very large public school located in the city of Ann Arbor.

Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at U-M are $55,097 per year.

In addition to its great value ranking, U-M is in the top 5% of all schools on our Best Area Studies Schools in the Great Lakes Region list.

Read full report on Area Studies at University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

Out of the 8 schools in the Great Lakes Region that were part of this year’s ranking, Indiana University - Bloomington landed the # 5 spot on the list. Located in the city of Bloomington, IU Bloomington is a public school with a fairly large student population.

IU Bloomington undergraduate students pay an average of $38,352 in tuition and fees each year.

In addition to its great value ranking, IU Bloomington is in the top 15% of all schools on our Best Area Studies Schools in the Great Lakes Region list.

Read More…

$21,475 Average Tuition & Fees

University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee landed the #6 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value area studies programs. UWM is a very large public school located in the city of Milwaukee.

Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at UWM are $21,475 per year.

Full Area Studies at University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee Report

Ohio State University - Main Campus did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best value schools for area studies students. It came in at #7 on the list. Ohio State is a very large public school located in the large city of Columbus.

Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at Ohio State are $35,019 per year.

Read full report on Area Studies at Ohio State University - Main Campus

#8

University of Chicago

Chicago, IL

University of Chicago came in at #8 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Area Studies Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking. Located in the city of Chicago, UChicago is a private not-for-profit college with a large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state undergraduate student at UChicago are $60,963 a year.

In addition to its best value ranking, and one of the reasons why the school is on the list, UChicago is ranked #2 for overall quality for area studies in the Great Lakes Region .

Read full report on Area Studies at University of Chicago

Best Area Studies Colleges by State

Explore the best area studies colleges for a specific state in the Great Lakes region.

State Degrees Awarded
Michigan 20
Illinois 62
Ohio 36
Indiana 39
Wisconsin 15

More Area Studies Rankings in the Great Lakes Region

Area Studies is one of 2 different types of programs to choose from.

Related Major Annual Graduates
Ethnic Studies 1,081
Ethnic, Culture, & Gender Studies (Other) 5

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 Karl Udo Gerth.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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