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Best Value Criminal Justice & Corrections Master's Degree Schools in Illinois

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2023 Best Value Criminal Justice & Corrections Master's Degree Schools in Illinois

Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing

10 Colleges
$18,376 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$48,557 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Criminal Justice & Corrections Master's Degree School for You

In 2020-2021, 182 degrees and certificates were awarded to criminal justice and corrections students who went to a Illinois college or university. This makes it the #56 most popular major in the state.

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.

The Best Value Criminal Justice & Corrections Master's Degree Schools in Illinois ranking is one of many tools that Grad Degree Search has developed to help you make your educational decision. This report analyzed 10 schools in Illinois to see which ones offered the best value master's degree programs for criminal justice students. The goal was to highlight schools with more affordable prices than others offering similar quality experiences.

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 Criminal Justice & Corrections Master’s Degree Schools in Illinois

The following schools top our list of the Best Value Criminal Justice & Corrections Master's Degree Colleges.

Top 10 Best Criminal Justice & Corrections Master's Degree Schools

Our 2023 rankings named Illinois State University the best value school in Illinois for criminal justice and corrections students working on their master’s degree. Located in the suburb of Normal, Illinois State is a public school with a fairly large student population.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at Illinois State are $9,773 per year.

In addition to its best value ranking, and one of the reasons why the school is on the list, Illinois State is ranked #5 for overall quality for criminal justice in Illinois.

Read full report on Criminal Justice & Corrections at Illinois State University

#2

Governors State University

University Park, IL

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend Governors State University. The school came in at #2 on this year’s Best Value Criminal Justice & Corrections Master’s Degree Schools in Illinois list. GSU is a small public school located in the rural area of University Park.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at GSU are $8,320 a year.

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The excellent master’s degree programs at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville helped the school earn the #3 place on this year’s ranking of the best value criminal justice and corrections schools in Illinois. Located in the suburb of Edwardsville, SIUE is a public college with a fairly large student population.

SIUE graduate students pay an average of $9,316 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Read full report on Criminal Justice & Corrections at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville

Out of the 10 schools in Illinois that were part of this year’s ranking, Western Illinois University landed the # 4 spot on the list. WIU is a medium-sized public school located in the town of Macomb.

WIU graduate students pay an average of $12,182 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

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#5

Lewis University

Romeoville, IL

Out of the 10 schools in Illinois that were part of this year’s ranking, Lewis University landed the # 5 spot on the list. Located in the large suburb of Romeoville, Lewis is a private not-for-profit college with a moderately-sized student population.

Lewis graduate students pay an average of $14,960 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

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#6

Aurora University

Aurora, IL

Aurora University did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for criminal justice and corrections students to get a master’s degree. It came in at #6 on the list. Located in the large suburb of Aurora, Aurora is a private not-for-profit school with a moderately-sized student population.

Aurora graduate students pay an average of $14,100 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Aurora excels when it comes to quality. It’s ranked in the top 20% of all schools on our Best Criminal Justice & Corrections Master’s Degree Schools in Illinois list.

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Chicago State University came in at #7 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Criminal Justice & Corrections Master’s Degree Schools in Illinois ranking. CSU is a small public school located in the large city of Chicago.

CSU graduate students pay an average of $9,728 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Read full report on Criminal Justice & Corrections at Chicago State University

University of Illinois at Chicago came in at #8 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Criminal Justice & Corrections Master’s Degree Schools in Illinois ranking. Located in the city of Chicago, UIC is a public college with a fairly large student population.

UIC graduate students pay an average of $17,277 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

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With a ranking of #9, Loyola University Chicago did quite well on this year’s best value schools for criminal justice and corrections students working on their master’s degree. Loyola Chicago is a large private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Chicago.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at Loyola Chicago are $19,894 per year.

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#10

University of Chicago

Chicago, IL

University of Chicago did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for criminal justice and corrections students to get a master’s degree. It came in at #10 on the list. Located in the city of Chicago, UChicago is a private not-for-profit school with a fairly large student population.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at UChicago are $63,936 per year.

UChicago not only placed well in our value ranking, but it is also #2 on our Best Criminal Justice & Corrections Master’s Degree Schools in Illinois list.

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Best Value Criminal Justice & Corrections Colleges in the Great Lakes Region

Explore all the Best Value Criminal Justice & Corrections Colleges in the Great Lakes Area or other specific states within that region.

State Degrees Awarded
Michigan 79
Ohio 236
Indiana 103
Wisconsin 43

Criminal Justice & Corrections is one of 4 different types of programs to choose from.

Majors Similar to Criminal Justice

Related Major Annual Graduates
Homeland Security 2,759
Security Science and Technology 1,875
Other Homeland Security 456
Fire Protection 172

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 10 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).

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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