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Best Value Social Sciences Master's Degree Schools in Illinois

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2023 Best Value Social Sciences Master's Degree Schools in Illinois

Identifying Quality Schools at More Affordable Prices

14 Colleges
$21,024 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$53,732 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Social Sciences Master's Degree School for You

With 1,111 degrees and certificates handed out in 2020-2021, social sciences is the #11 most popular major in Illinois.

There are lots of options to pick from today when trying to decide which program is right for you. 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.

To assist you in seeing some of the education options that are available to you, Grad Degree Search has created its Best Value Social Sciences Master's Degree Schools in Illinois ranking. This report analyzed 14 schools in Illinois to see which ones offered the best value master's degree programs for social sciences students. The goal was to highlight schools with more affordable prices than others offering similar quality experiences.

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. More specifically, we discount our quality score by the published tuition and fees charged by a school. This gives the cost per unit of quality for each college. The value is determined by how much quality your dollar buys.

Our calculations use out-of-state tuition and fees in our nationwide and regional rankings. Average in-state tuition and fees are used for our statewide rankings.

2023 Best Value Social Sciences Master’s Degree Schools in Illinois

Check out the social sciences master's degree programs at these schools if you want to get the best value for your educational dollar.

Top 10 Best Social Sciences Master's Degree Schools

Our 2023 rankings named Illinois State University the best value school in Illinois for social sciences students working on their master’s degree. Illinois State is a fairly large public school located in the suburb of Normal.

Illinois State graduate students pay an average of $9,773 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Illinois State also made our Best Social Sciences Master’s Degree Schools in Illinois list, coming in at #5.

Full Social Sciences at Illinois State University Report

Out of the 14 schools in Illinois that were part of this year’s ranking, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville landed the # 2 spot on the list. SIUE is a large public school located in the large suburb of Edwardsville.

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

Read full report on Social Sciences at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville

Out of the 14 schools in Illinois that were part of this year’s ranking, Northern Illinois University landed the # 3 spot on the list. NIU is a large public school located in the small suburb of Dekalb.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at NIU are $11,390 a year.

Full Social Sciences at Northern Illinois University Report

A rank of #4 on this year’s list means Northeastern Illinois University is a great value for social sciences students working on their master’s degree. Northeastern Illinois University is a moderately-sized public school located in the city of Chicago.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at Northeastern Illinois University are $9,428 per year.

Full Social Sciences at Northeastern Illinois University Report

The excellent master’s degree programs at Western Illinois University helped the school earn the #5 place on this year’s ranking of the best value social sciences schools in Illinois. Located in the remote town of Macomb, WIU is a public college with a medium-sized student population.

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

Read full report on Social Sciences at Western Illinois University

#6

Eastern Illinois University

Charleston, IL

With a ranking of #6, Eastern Illinois University did quite well on this year’s best value schools for social sciences students working on their master’s degree. Located in the distant town of Charleston, EIU is a public college with a moderately-sized student population.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at EIU are $10,640 a year.

Read More…

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign came in at #7 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Social Sciences Master’s Degree Schools in Illinois ranking. Located in the small city of Champaign, UIUC is a public college with a very large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at UIUC are $17,823 a year.

UIUC also took the #3 spot in our Best Social Sciences Master’s Degree Schools in Illinois rankings.

Read full report on Social Sciences at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Southern Illinois University Carbondale landed the #8 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value master’s degree social sciences programs. SIUC is a large public school located in the small city of Carbondale.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at SIUC are $16,162 a year.

Read More…

Loyola University Chicago came in at #9 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Social Sciences Master’s Degree Schools in Illinois ranking. Located in the large city of Chicago, Loyola Chicago is a private not-for-profit college with a fairly large student population.

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

Full Social Sciences at Loyola University Chicago Report

University of Illinois at Chicago landed the #10 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value master’s degree social sciences programs. UIC is a very large public school located in the city of Chicago.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at UIC are $17,277 per year.

Read full report on Social Sciences at University of Illinois at Chicago

Best Value Social Sciences Colleges in the Great Lakes Region

Explore all the Best Value Social Sciences Schools in the Great Lakes Area or other specific states within that region.

State Degrees Awarded
Indiana 290
Ohio 575
Wisconsin 518
Michigan 441

Social Sciences Majors to Study

Major Annual Graduates
Economics 6,173
International Relations & National Security 5,010
Political Science & Government 2,664
Geography & Cartography 2,315
Sociology 1,907
Anthropology 1,446
Criminology 936
General Social Sciences 745
Other Social Sciences 532
Urban Studies 432
Archeology 66
Demography & Population Studies 66

Related Major Annual Graduates
Education 199,724
Psychology 42,013
Communication & Journalism 12,242
Library Science 5,929
History 4,391

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 14 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 AndrГ© KГјnzelmann.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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