2022 Best Value Master’s Degree Colleges for Journalism in Illinois

It’s not easy to decide which college to attend when there so many options available for students. College Factual has developed its “Best Value Journalism Schools for a Master’s in Illinois” ranking as one item you can use to help make this decision.

Journalism is the 62nd most popular major in the country with 14,528 degrees awarded in 2019-2020. In 2017-2018, journalism graduates who were awarded their degree in 2015-2017, earned an average of $31,042 and had an average of $24,628 in loans still to pay off.

Across Illinois, there were 627 journalism graduates with average earnings and debt of $31,000 and $27,965 respectively. At the master’s degree level specifically, there were 153 journalism graduates with average earnings and debt of $57,267 and $46,814 respectively.

For this year’s “Best Value Journalism Schools for a Master’s in Illinois” ranking, we looked at 3 colleges that offer a degree in journalism. This ranking identifies schools with high-quality journalism programs that also have a lower cost than schools of similar quality.

Some of the factors we look at when determining these rankings are overall quality of the journalism program at the school and the cost of the school after aid is awarded among other things. For more information, check out our ranking methodology.

More Ways to Rank Journalism Schools

The journalism 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 Journalism Schools for a Master’s in Illinois”.

One of our other unique offerings is College Combat. This tool lets you build your own customized comparisons utilizing the factors that are most important to you. Test it out when you get a chance! You may also want to bookmark the link and share it with others who are trying to make the college decision.

Best Value Journalism Schools for a Master’s in Illinois

The colleges and universities below are the best for illinois master’s degree journalism students.

Top 3 Best Value Master’s Degree Colleges for Journalism in Illinois

#1

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Champaign, Illinois

#2 in overall quality

$30,083 Avg Grad Tuition & Fees

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. It ranked #1 on our 2022 Best Value Journalism Schools for a Master’s in Illinois list. Located in Champaign, Illinois, this large public school handed out 5 degrees to qualified masters’s journalism students in 2019-2020.

In addition to being on our illinois master’s degree journalism students list, UIUC has also earned the #2 rank in our “Best Journalism Master’s Degree Schools in Illinois” ranking. Although you might pay more or less depending on your area of study, average graduate tuition and fees at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign are $30,083.

Read more about Journalism at UIUC

#2

DePaul University

Chicago, Illinois

#3 in overall quality

$19,760 Avg Grad Tuition & Fees

$37,568 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend DePaul University. It ranked #2 on our 2022 Best Value Journalism Schools for a Master’s in Illinois list. Located in Chicago, Illinois, this large private not-for-profit school handed out 20 diplomas to qualified masters’s journalism students in 2019-2020.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at DePaul, the school also landed the #3 spot in our “Best Journalism Master’s Degree Schools in Illinois” ranking. Average graduate tuition and fees at DePaul are $19,760, but you may pay more or less depending on your major.

Read more about Journalism at DePaul University

#3

Northwestern University

Evanston, Illinois

#1 in overall quality

$56,567 Avg Grad Tuition & Fees

$44,571 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Northwestern University. It ranked #3 on our 2022 Best Value Journalism Schools for a Master’s in Illinois list. Northwestern is a large private not-for-profit school situated in Evanston, Illinois. It awarded 120 masters’s journalism degrees in 2019-2020.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at Northwestern, the school also landed the #1 spot in our “Best Journalism Master’s Degree Schools in Illinois” ranking. Average graduate tuition and fees at Northwestern University are $56,567, but you may pay more or less depending on your major.

Read full report on Journalism at Northwestern University

• Best Value Master’s Degree Colleges for Journalism in the Great Lakes Region
• Best Value Master’s Degree Colleges for Journalism

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 Jfurrer.

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