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Best Value Liberal Arts General Studies Schools in the Great Lakes Region

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2023 Best Value Liberal Arts General Studies Schools in the Great Lakes Region

Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing

17 Colleges
$28,994 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$29,415 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Liberal Arts General Studies School for You

Out of all the majors we analyze each year, liberal arts general studies was ranked #74 in the country. In fact 2,680 degrees and certificates were handed out in 2020-2021.

Today's students have lots of options to pick from when considering higher education opportunities. With more and more schools offering online options, you could even register for a great program on the other side of the country. On top of that, there are a considerable number of trade schools that offer fast-track entry to many fields.

The Best Value Liberal Arts General Studies Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking is one of many tools that Grad Degree Search has developed to help you make your educational decision. Our analysis looked at 17 schools in the Great Lakes Region to see which programs offered the best value experiences for liberal arts students with the aim of identifying those quality schools that are more affordable than some of their counterparts.

When determining this ranking, we place a high emphasis on the school's quality as well as its sticker price. Even though a college may be affordable, it may not offer value. 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.

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

2023 Best Value Liberal Arts General Studies Schools in the Great Lakes Region

The following schools top our list of the Best Value Liberal Arts General Studies Colleges.

Top 10 Best Liberal Arts General Studies Schools

$13,297 Average Tuition & Fees

Our 2023 rankings named Western Illinois University the best value school in the Great Lakes Region for liberal arts general studies students. WIU is a medium-sized public school located in the remote town of Macomb.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state undergraduate student at WIU are $13,297 a year.

Read full report on Liberal Arts General Studies at Western Illinois University

#2

Tiffin University

Tiffin, OH
$28,480 Average Tuition & Fees

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Tiffin University. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Best Value Liberal Arts General Studies Schools in the Great Lakes Region list. Located in the town of Tiffin, Tiffin University is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.

Tiffin University undergraduate students pay an average of $28,480 in tuition and fees each year.

Read More…

#3

DePaul University

Chicago, IL
$42,012 Average Tuition & Fees

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend DePaul University. It ranked #3 on our 2023 Best Value Liberal Arts General Studies Schools in the Great Lakes Region list. DePaul is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Chicago.

DePaul undergraduate students pay an average of $42,012 in tuition and fees each year.

Full Liberal Arts General Studies at DePaul University Report

#4

North Central College

Naperville, IL
$42,206 Average Tuition & Fees

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend North Central College. It ranked #4 on our 2023 Best Value Liberal Arts General Studies Schools in the Great Lakes Region list. Located in the city of Naperville, North Central is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.

Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at North Central are $42,206 per year.

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$18,857 Average Tuition & Fees

Out of the 17 schools in the Great Lakes Region that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Illinois at Springfield landed the # 5 spot on the list. Located in the midsize city of Springfield, UIS is a public school with a small student population.

Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at UIS are $18,857 per year.

Full Liberal Arts General Studies at University of Illinois at Springfield Report

$21,812 Average Tuition & Fees

With a ranking of #6, University of Southern Indiana did quite well on this year’s best value schools for liberal arts general studies students. USI is a moderately-sized public school located in the midsize suburb of Evansville.

USI undergraduate students pay an average of $21,812 in tuition and fees each year.

Read full report on Liberal Arts General Studies at University of Southern Indiana

$20,934 Average Tuition & Fees

Indiana University - South Bend did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best value schools for liberal arts general studies students. It came in at #7 on the list. Indiana University - South Bend is a small public school located in the medium-sized city of South Bend.

Indiana University - South Bend undergraduate students pay an average of $20,934 in tuition and fees each year.

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$20,934 Average Tuition & Fees

Indiana University - Southeast did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best value schools for liberal arts general studies students. It came in at #8 on the list. Located in the large suburb of New Albany, Indiana University - Southeast is a public college with a small student population.

Indiana University - Southeast undergraduate students pay an average of $20,934 in tuition and fees each year.

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$17,141 Average Tuition & Fees

With a ranking of #9, Union Institute & University did quite well on this year’s best value schools for liberal arts general studies students. Located in the city of Cincinnati, Union is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.

Union undergraduate students pay an average of $17,141 in tuition and fees each year.

Read full report on Liberal Arts General Studies at Union Institute & University

$21,475 Average Tuition & Fees

With a ranking of #10, University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee did quite well on this year’s best value schools for liberal arts general studies students. 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 Liberal Arts General Studies at University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee Report

Best Liberal Arts General Studies Colleges by State

Explore the best liberal arts general studies colleges for a specific state in the Great Lakes region.

State Degrees Awarded
Michigan 13
Illinois 290
Ohio 62
Indiana 19
Wisconsin 4

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 17 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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