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Best Value Visual & Performing Arts Master's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region

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2023 Best Value Visual & Performing Arts Master's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region

Identifying Quality Schools at More Affordable Prices

54 Colleges
$18,611 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$32,741 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Visual & Performing Arts Master's Degree School for You

Visual & Performing Arts is the #11 most popular major in the country with 18,379 degrees and certificates awarded in 2020-2021.

When it comes to higher education, there are a lot of options for students. You can choose a traditional brick and mortar school, or with the growth of online education, you can attend a school half-way across the country without even leaving your house. Also there are many trade schools that offer short-term programs that open up more career options.

The Best Value Visual & Performing Arts Master's Degree 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. This report analyzed 54 schools in the Great Lakes Region to see which ones offered the best value master's degree programs for visual and performing arts 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. 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.

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

2023 Best Value Visual & Performing Arts Master’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region

Check out the visual and performing arts master's degree programs at these schools if you want to get the best value for your educational dollar.

Top 10 Best Visual & Performing Arts Master's Degree Schools

Our 2023 rankings named Columbia College Chicago the best value school in the Great Lakes Region for visual and performing arts students working on their master’s degree. Located in the city of Chicago, Columbia is a private not-for-profit college with a moderately-sized student population.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at Columbia are $2,350 a year.

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#2

Youngstown State University

Youngstown, OH

The excellent master’s degree programs at Youngstown State University helped the school earn the #2 place on this year’s ranking of the best value visual and performing arts schools in the Great Lakes Region . Located in the city of Youngstown, Youngstown State University is a public school with a fairly large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at Youngstown State University are $6,931 a year.

Read full report on Visual & Performing Arts at Youngstown State University

#3

Ferris State University

Big Rapids, MI

Out of the 54 schools in the Great Lakes Region that were part of this year’s ranking, Ferris State University landed the # 3 spot on the list. Ferris is a large public school located in the distant town of Big Rapids.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at Ferris are $8,232 a year.

Read full report on Visual & Performing Arts at Ferris State University

The excellent master’s degree programs at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville helped the school earn the #4 place on this year’s ranking of the best value visual and performing arts schools in the Great Lakes Region . SIUE is a fairly large public school located in the large suburb of Edwardsville.

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

Read full report on Visual & Performing Arts at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville

The excellent master’s degree programs at Illinois State University helped the school earn the #5 place on this year’s ranking of the best value visual and performing arts schools in the Great Lakes Region . Illinois State is a fairly large public school located in the suburb of Normal.

Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at Illinois State are $11,773 per year.

As a testament to the quality of education it offers, Illinois State also is in the top 20% of our Best Visual & Performing Arts Master’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking.

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Western Illinois University came in at #6 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Visual & Performing Arts Master’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking. Located in the remote town of Macomb, WIU is a public school with a medium-sized student population.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at WIU are $12,182 a year.

Read full report on Visual & Performing Arts at Western Illinois University

University of Saint Francis - Fort Wayne came in at #7 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Visual & Performing Arts Master’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking. Located in the city of Fort Wayne, University of St. Francis Fort Wayne is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.

Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at University of St. Francis Fort Wayne are $12,418 per year.

Full Visual & Performing Arts at University of Saint Francis - Fort Wayne Report

University of Wisconsin - Stout did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for visual and performing arts students to get a master’s degree. It came in at #8 on the list. UW - Stout is a moderately-sized public school located in the town of Menomonie.

UW - Stout graduate students pay an average of $17,213 in tuition and fees each year.

In addition to its great value ranking, UW - Stout is in the top 20% of all schools on our Best Visual & Performing Arts Master’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region list.

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#9

Eastern Illinois University

Charleston, IL

Eastern Illinois University ranked #9 on this year’s Best Value Visual & Performing Arts Master’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region list. Located in the town of Charleston, EIU is a public school with a moderately-sized student population.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at EIU are $21,407 a year.

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Northern Illinois University did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for visual and performing arts students to get a master’s degree. It came in at #9 on the list. NIU is a large public school located in the small suburb of Dekalb.

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

Full Visual & Performing Arts at Northern Illinois University Report

Best Visual & Performing Arts Colleges by State

Explore the best visual and performing arts schools for a specific state in the Great Lakes region.

State Degrees Awarded
Illinois 1,053
Indiana 417
Ohio 791
Wisconsin 146
Michigan 469

Visual & Performing Arts Majors to Study

Major Annual Graduates
Music 7,675
Fine & Studio Arts 3,224
Design & Applied Arts 1,979
Film, Video & Photographic Arts 1,704
Drama & Theater Arts 1,699
Arts & Media Management 1,184
General Visual & Performing Arts 390
Dance 257
Other Visual Art 254
Crafts, Folk Art & Artisanry 13

Related Major Annual Graduates
Theology & Religious Vocations 17,287
English Language & Literature 9,566
Foreign Languages & Linguistics 4,163
Philosophy & Religious Studies 3,136
Liberal Arts / Sciences & Humanities 2,680

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 25 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 Bonnielou2013.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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