2022 Best Value Architecture Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois

Students have lots of options to chooose from today when trying to decide which college to attend. At College Factual, we’re committed to helping you make that decision by providing information such as that found in our “Best Value Architecture Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois” ranking.

In 2019-2020, 5,051 people earned their degree in general architecture, making the major the 111th most popular in the United States. In 2017-2018, general architecture graduates who were awarded their degree in 2015-2017, earned an average of $46,998 and had an average of $41,356 in loans still to pay off.

Across Illinois, there were 197 general architecture graduates with average earnings and debt of $45,625 and $42,290 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 134 general architecture graduates with average earnings and debt of $38,319 and $24,183 respectively.

For this year’s “Best Value Architecture Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois” ranking, we looked at 4 colleges that offer a degree in general architecture. Not only do the schools that top this list have excellent general architecture programs, but they also cost less that schools of similar quality.

Some of the factors we look at when determining these rankings are overall quality of the general architecture program at the school and the cost of the school after aid is awarded among other things. See our ranking methodology to learn more.

One Size Does Not Fit All

The architecture school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we’ve developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of “Best Value Architecture Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois”.

You can create your own custom comparison that focuses on the factors most important to you using our tool, College Combat. Test it out by comparing your favorite schools against others you are considering, or bookmark the tool so you can experiment with it later.

Best Value Architecture Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois

The colleges and universities below are the best for illinois bachelor’s degree architecture students.

Top 4 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for General Architecture in Illinois

#1

University of Illinois at Chicago

Chicago, Illinois

#1 in overall quality

$13,312 Average Net Price

$42,309 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of Illinois at Chicago. The school came in at #1 for the Best Value Architecture Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois. This large school is located in Chicago, Illinois, and it awarded 69 bachelors’s architecture degrees in 2019-2020.

In addition to being on our illinois bachelor’s degree architecture students list, UIC has also earned the #1 rank in our “Best General Architecture Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for UIC is $13,312 for Illinois Bachelor’s Degree Architecture students.

The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 3.4%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.

Read full report on General Architecture at UIC

#2

Southern Illinois University Carbondale

Carbondale, Illinois

#3 in overall quality

$16,945 Average Net Price

$42,682 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Southern Illinois University Carbondale. The school came in at #2 for the Best Value Architecture Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois. Located in Carbondale, Illinois, this fairly large public school awarded 36 diplomas to qualified bachelors’s architecture students in 2019-2020.

SIUC also made our “Best General Architecture Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” list, coming in at #3. The estimated yearly cost for SIUC is $16,945 for Illinois Bachelor’s Degree Architecture students.

Full SIUC General Architecture Report

#3

Judson University

Elgin, Illinois

#4 in overall quality

$18,737 Average Net Price

$37,208 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Judson University. The school came in at #3 for the Best Value Architecture Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois. Judson University is a small school located in Elgin, Illinois that handed out 26 bachelors’s architecture degrees in 2019-2020.

Judson did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #4 on our “Best General Architecture Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” list. The yearly cost to attend Judson University is $18,737 for illinois bachelor’s degree architecture students.

The impressive student-to-faculty ratio of 10 to 1 means that students may have more opportunities to work more closely with their professors than they would at other schools.

Full Judson General Architecture Report

#4

Illinois Institute of Technology

Chicago, Illinois

#2 in overall quality

$22,831 Average Net Price

$50,648 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Illinois Institute of Technology. It ranked #4 on our 2022 Best Value Architecture Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois list. This medium-sized school is located in Chicago, Illinois, and it awarded 3 bachelors’s architecture degrees in 2019-2020.

Illinois Tech also took the #2 spot in our “Best General Architecture Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” ranking. It costs about $22,831 for illinois bachelor’s degree architecture students per year to attend Illinois Tech.

With a student-to-faculty ratio of 10 to 1, it’s easy to see that the school is committed to helping their undergraduates succeed. With a freshman retention rate of 87%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students. The student loan default rate at the school is 2.9%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

Full Illinois Tech General Architecture Report

• Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for General Architecture in the Great Lakes Region
• Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for General Architecture

Notes and References

References

• 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 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).
• Information about the national average student loan default rate is from the U.S. Department of Education and refers to data about the 2016 borrower cohort tracking period for which the cohort default rate (CDR) was 10.1%.

Read more about our data sources and methodologies

Footnotes

• *Average salary, average net price, and average tuition and fees are for the top schools only.
• Some schools otherwise deserving of recognition may have been removed from this ranking in the event that new data identified post-publication warranted it, or at the request of the school.

Credits

• Credit for the banner image above goes to Danichou.

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