by our College Data Analytics Team
With all of the options students have for higher education today, it can be tough to choose which direction to take. Our mission at College Factual is to arm you with as much information as we can to help you make that decision. Our “Schools for a Bachelor’s Highly Focused on Journalism Major in Illinois” ranking is one tool we have developed to help in this regard.
In 2020-2021, 13,552 people earned their degree in journalism, making the major the 69th most popular in the United States. In 2019-2020, journalism graduates who were awarded their degree in 2017-2019, earned an average of $32,953 and had an average of $23,734 in loans still to pay off.
Across Illinois, there were 332 journalism graduates with average earnings and debt of $33,522 and $23,595 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 300 journalism graduates with average earnings and debt of $40,117 and $25,584 respectively.
For this year’s “Schools for a Bachelor’s Highly Focused on Journalism Major in Illinois” ranking, we looked at 19 colleges that offer a degree in journalism. That schools that top this list have a program in journalism in which the largest percentage of students at the school are enrolled.
For more information, check out our ranking methodology.
When choosing the right school for you, it’s important to arm yourself with all the facts you can. To that end, we’ve created a number of major-specific rankings, including this “Schools for a Bachelor’s Highly Focused on Journalism Major in Illinois” list to help you make the college decision.
You can create your own custom comparison that focuses on the factors most important to you using our tool, College Combat. 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.
The colleges and universities below are the best for illinois bachelor’s degree journalism students.
You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Columbia College Chicago. It ranked #1 on our 2023 Schools for a Bachelor’s Highly Focused on Journalism Major in Illinois list. Chicago, Illinois is the setting for this medium-sized institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out bachelors’s journalism degrees to 43 students in 2020-2021.
You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Augustana College. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Schools for a Bachelor’s Highly Focused on Journalism Major in Illinois list. Augustana College is a small school located in Rock Island, Illinois that handed out 14 bachelors’s journalism degrees in 2020-2021.
Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 85%. The low undergrad student loan default rate of 3.5% is a good sign that students have an easier time paying off their loans than they might at other schools. For comparison, the national default rate is 10.1%.
Out of the 19 schools in the Schools for a Bachelor’s Highly Focused on Journalism Major in Illinois that were part of this year’s ranking, Southern Illinois University Carbondale landed the #3 spot on the list. Southern Illinois University Carbondale is a fairly large public school situated in Carbondale, Illinois. It awarded 28 bachelors’s journalism degrees in 2020-2021.
You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend DePaul University. It ranked #4 on our 2023 Schools for a Bachelor’s Highly Focused on Journalism Major in Illinois list. This large school is located in Chicago, Illinois, and it awarded 47 bachelors’s journalism degrees in 2020-2021.
The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 3.7%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.
You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Loyola University Chicago. It ranked #5 on our 2023 Schools for a Bachelor’s Highly Focused on Journalism Major in Illinois list. Loyola Chicago is a fairly large private not-for-profit school situated in Chicago, Illinois. It awarded 39 bachelors’s journalism degrees in 2020-2021.
With a freshman retention rate of 85%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its undergraduate students. The low undergrad student loan default rate of 2.7% is a good sign that students have an easier time paying off their loans than they might at other schools. For comparison, the national default rate is 10.1%.
North Central College came in at #6 in this year’s edition of the Schools for a Bachelor’s Highly Focused on Journalism Major in Illinois ranking. This small school is located in Naperville, Illinois, and it awarded 6 bachelors’s journalism degrees in 2020-2021.
The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 3.6%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.
Bradley University ranked #7 on this year’s Schools for a Bachelor’s Highly Focused on Journalism Major in Illinois list. This medium-sized school is located in Peoria, Illinois, and it awarded 9 bachelors’s journalism degrees in 2020-2021.
The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 86%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year. The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is 2.5%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.
With a ranking of #8, Eastern Illinois University did quite well on the 2023 Schools for a Bachelor’s Highly Focused on Journalism Major in Illinois list. Located in Charleston, Illinois, this medium-sized public school handed out 10 degrees to qualified bachelors’s journalism students in 2020-2021.
With a ranking of #9, Illinois State University did quite well on the 2023 Schools for a Bachelor’s Highly Focused on Journalism Major in Illinois list. Illinois State is located in Normal, Illinois and, has a large student population. In 2020-2021, this school awarded 29 bachelors’s journalism degrees to qualified students.
The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is 3.6%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.
Northern Illinois University came in at #10 in this year’s edition of the Schools for a Bachelor’s Highly Focused on Journalism Major in Illinois ranking. NIU is a fairly large public school situated in Dekalb, Illinois. It awarded 17 bachelors’s journalism degrees in 2020-2021.
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign came in at #11 in this year’s edition of the Schools for a Bachelor’s Highly Focused on Journalism Major in Illinois ranking. UIUC is a public institution located in Champaign, Illinois. The school has a large population, and it awarded 49 bachelors’s degrees in 2020-2021.
The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 2.3%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. With a freshman retention rate of 94%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its undergraduate students.
Full University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Journalism Report
With a ranking of #12, Dominican University did quite well on the 2023 Schools for a Bachelor’s Highly Focused on Journalism Major in Illinois list. Located in River Forest, Illinois, this small private not-for-profit school awarded 2 degrees to qualified bachelors’s journalism students in 2020-2021.
The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is 4.4%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%. Since the school has a undergrad student-to-faculty ratio of 10 to 1, those pursuing a degree will have more opportunities to interact with their professors.
Lewis University ranked #13 on this year’s Schools for a Bachelor’s Highly Focused on Journalism Major in Illinois list. This medium-sized school is located in Romeoville, Illinois, and it awarded 3 bachelors’s journalism degrees in 2020-2021.
The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is 2.0%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.
Western Illinois University came in at #14 in this year’s edition of the Schools for a Bachelor’s Highly Focused on Journalism Major in Illinois ranking. This medium-sized school is located in Macomb, Illinois, and it awarded 3 bachelors’s journalism degrees in 2020-2021.
Read full report on Journalism at Western Illinois University
Concordia University, Chicago ranked #15 on this year’s Schools for a Bachelor’s Highly Focused on Journalism Major in Illinois list. Concordia University, Chicago is located in River Forest, Illinois and, has a medium-sized student population. In 2020-2021, this school awarded 1 bachelors’s journalism degrees to qualified students.
The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 3.1%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.
Read full report on Journalism at Concordia University, Chicago
Knox College ranked #16 on this year’s Schools for a Bachelor’s Highly Focused on Journalism Major in Illinois list. Galesburg, Illinois is the setting for this small institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out bachelors’s journalism degrees to 0 students in 2020-2021.
Since the school has a undergrad student-to-faculty ratio of 10 to 1, those pursuing a degree will have more opportunities to interact with their professors. The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 2.3%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.
Benedictine University came in at #16 in this year’s edition of the Schools for a Bachelor’s Highly Focused on Journalism Major in Illinois ranking. Benedictine University is a small school located in Lisle, Illinois that handed out 0 bachelors’s journalism degrees in 2020-2021.
The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is 4.9%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.
Roosevelt University came in at #16 in this year’s edition of the Schools for a Bachelor’s Highly Focused on Journalism Major in Illinois ranking. This small school is located in Chicago, Illinois, and it awarded 0 bachelors’s journalism degrees in 2020-2021.
With a ranking of #16, Northwestern University did quite well on the 2023 Schools for a Bachelor’s Highly Focused on Journalism Major in Illinois list. Northwestern is located in Evanston, Illinois and, has a large student population. In 2020-2021, this school awarded 0 bachelors’s journalism degrees to qualified students.
With a freshman retention rate of 97%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its undergraduate students. The low undergrad student loan default rate of 0.6% is a good sign that students have an easier time paying off their loans than they might at other schools. For comparison, the national default rate is 10.1%. The impressive undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio of 6 to 1 means that students may have more opportunities to work more closely with their professors than they would at other schools.
Read more about our data sources and methodologies
