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Best Value Sociology Master's Degree Schools in Illinois

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2023 Best Value Sociology Master's Degree Schools in Illinois

Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing

11 Colleges
$22,969 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$42,092 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Sociology Master's Degree School for You

In 2020-2021, 100 degrees and certificates were awarded to sociology students who went to a Illinois college or university. This makes it the #92 most popular major in the state.

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.

To assist you in seeing some of the education options that are available to you, Grad Degree Search has created its Best Value Sociology Master's Degree Schools in Illinois ranking. This report analyzed 11 schools in Illinois to see which ones offered the best value master's degree programs for sociology 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. 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 Sociology Master’s Degree Schools in Illinois

The colleges and universities below are the best value schools for sociology majors pursuing a master's degree.

Top 10 Best Sociology Master's Degree Schools

Our 2023 rankings named Illinois State University the best value school in Illinois for sociology students working on their master’s degree. Located in the medium-sized 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.

Illinois State did well in our overall quality rankings, too. It placed #5 on our Best Sociology Master’s Degree Schools in Illinois list.

Read full report on Sociology at Illinois State University

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. The school came in at #2 on this year’s Best Value Sociology Master’s Degree Schools in Illinois list. Located in the suburb of Edwardsville, SIUE is a public college with a large student population.

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

Read full report on Sociology at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville

Out of the 11 schools in Illinois that were part of this year’s ranking, Northern Illinois University landed the # 3 spot on the list. Located in the suburb of Dekalb, NIU is a public college with a fairly large student population.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at NIU are $11,390 per year.

Full Sociology at Northern Illinois University Report

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend Western Illinois University. The school came in at #4 on this year’s Best Value Sociology Master’s Degree Schools in Illinois list. WIU is a medium-sized public school located in the remote town of Macomb.

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

Read More…

Out of the 11 schools in Illinois that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign landed the # 5 spot on the list. UIUC is a very large public school located in the small city of Champaign.

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

UIUC not only placed well in our value ranking, but it is also #3 on our Best Sociology Master’s Degree Schools in Illinois list.

Full Sociology at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Report

Southern Illinois University Carbondale did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for sociology students to get a master’s degree. It came in at #6 on the list. Located in the small city of Carbondale, SIUC is a public school with a fairly large student population.

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

Read More…

With a ranking of #7, Loyola University Chicago did quite well on this year’s best value schools for sociology students working on their master’s degree. Loyola Chicago is a large private not-for-profit school located in the city of Chicago.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at Loyola Chicago are $19,894 a year.

Full Sociology at Loyola University Chicago Report

With a ranking of #8, University of Illinois at Chicago did quite well on this year’s best value schools for sociology students working on their master’s degree. Located in the 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 full report on Sociology at University of Illinois at Chicago

#9

DePaul University

Chicago, IL

DePaul University landed the #9 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value master’s degree sociology programs. DePaul is a very large private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Chicago.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at DePaul are $18,341 per year.

Read full report on Sociology at DePaul University

#10

Northwestern University

Evanston, IL

Northwestern University ranked #10 on this year’s Best Value Sociology Master’s Degree Schools in Illinois list. Northwestern is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the 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 Sociology Master’s Degree Schools in Illinois list.

Read More…

Best Value Sociology Colleges in the Great Lakes Region

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

State Degrees Awarded
Michigan 35
Ohio 73
Indiana 56
Wisconsin 43

Sociology is one of 12 different types of programs to choose from.

Related Major Annual Graduates
Economics 6,173
International Relations & National Security 5,010
Political Science & Government 2,664
Geography & Cartography 2,315
Anthropology 1,446

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 11 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 Kontos.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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