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Best Value Design & Applied Arts Schools in Illinois

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2023 Best Value Design & Applied Arts Schools in Illinois

Identifying Quality Schools at More Affordable Prices

5 Colleges
$43,876 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$37,103 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Design & Applied Arts School for You

Design & Applied Arts is the #106 most popular major in Illinois with 75 degrees and certificates awarded in 2020-2021.

With all the programs available today, it can be tough to choose which one is the best for you. As online education oppotunities continue to grow, you're not restricted to just schools in your local area anymore. Even some of the 'big name' schools are offering online courses. Also, there are a number of trade schools with offerings that you might find attractive.

To assist you in seeing some of the education options that are available to you, Grad Degree Search has created its Best Value Design & Applied Arts Schools in Illinois ranking. This report analyzed 5 schools in Illinois to see which ones offered the best value programs for design 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. 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.

In our regional and nationwide rankings, out-of-state tution and fees are used in our calculations. Average in-state tuition and fees are used for our statewide rankings.

2023 Best Value Design & Applied Arts Schools in Illinois

The following schools top our list of the Best Value Design & Applied Arts Colleges.

Best Illinois Schools for Affordable Quality in Design & Applied Arts

$50,375 Average Tuition & Fees

Our 2023 rankings named Illinois Institute of Technology the best value school in Illinois for design and applied arts students. Located in the large city of Chicago, Illinois Tech is a private not-for-profit college with a medium-sized student population.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at Illinois Tech are $50,375 a year.

Read full report on Design & Applied Arts at Illinois Institute of Technology

$15,603 Average Tuition & Fees

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of Illinois at Chicago. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Best Value Design & Applied Arts Schools in Illinois list. UIC is a fairly large public school located in the large city of Chicago.

UIC undergraduate students pay an average of $15,603 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Read full report on Design & Applied Arts at University of Illinois at Chicago

#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 Design & Applied Arts Schools in Illinois list. Located in the city of Chicago, DePaul is a private not-for-profit college with a very large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at DePaul are $42,012 a year.

Full Design & Applied Arts at DePaul University Report

#4

Northwestern University

Evanston, IL
$60,768 Average Tuition & Fees

The excellent programs at Northwestern University helped the school earn the #4 place on this year’s ranking of the best design and applied arts schools in Illinois. Located in the city of Evanston, Northwestern is a private not-for-profit school with a fairly large student population.

Northwestern undergraduate students pay an average of $60,768 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Northwestern did well in our overall quality rankings, too. It placed #1 on our Best Design & Applied Arts Schools in Illinois list.

Read More…

$50,623 Average Tuition & Fees

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend School of the Art Institute of Chicago. The school came in at #5 on this year’s Best Value Design & Applied Arts Schools in Illinois list. Located in the city of Chicago, School of the Art Institute of Chicago is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.

In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at School of the Art Institute of Chicago are $50,623 per year.

Read More…

Best Value Design & Applied Arts Colleges in the Great Lakes Region

Explore all the Best Value Design & Applied Arts Colleges in the Great Lakes Area or other specific states within that region.

State Degrees Awarded
Michigan 48
Ohio 103
Indiana 16
Wisconsin 3

One of 9 majors within the area of study, design and applied arts has other similar majors worth exploring.

Majors Similar to Design

Related Major Annual Graduates
Music 7,675
Fine & Studio Arts 3,224
Film, Video & Photographic Arts 1,704
Drama & Theater Arts 1,699
Arts & Media Management 1,184

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 5 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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