2021 Best Education Colleges for Non-Traditional Students in the Great Lakes Region
111Colleges
16,451Bachelor's Degrees
$27,454Avg Cost*
Finding the Best Education Schools for Non-Traditional Students
For this year's Best Education Colleges for Non-Traditional Students in the Great Lakes Region ranking, we looked at 111 colleges that offer a bachelor's in education. Not only do the schools that top this list have excellent education programs, but they also offer a lot of support to non-traditional students.
Some of the factors we look at when determining these rankings are overall quality of the education program at the school, affordability, and non-traditional population. For more information, check out our ranking methodology.
The education 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 the Best Education Schools for Non-Traditional Students.
To further help you make the college decision, we've developed a unique tool called College Combat that allows you to compare schools based on the factors that matter the most to you.
When you have some time, check it out - you may want to bookmark the link so you don't forget it.
2021 Best Education Schools for Non-Traditional Students in the Great Lakes Region
Check out the education programs at these schools if you want to see which ones are the best for non-traditional students.
Top 15% Best Education Schools for Non-Traditional Students
Illinois State University tops the 2021 list of our schools in the Great Lakes Region that are best for non-traditional education students. Illinois State is a very large public school located in the medium-sized suburb of Normal. As a testament to the quality of education offered at Illinois State, the school also landed the #3 rank in our Best Colleges for Education in the Great Lakes Region ranking.
The school has a low student loan default rate of 1.7%. Approximately 7,464 students take at least one class online at Illinois State. There are roughly 2,500 part time students in attendance at Illinois State.
Trinity Christian College earned the #2 spot in our 2021 rankings. Located in the large suburb of Palos Heights, Trinity Christian is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population. Trinity Christian not only placed well in our non-traditional rankings. It is also #2 on our Best Colleges for Education in the Great Lakes Region list.
About 2.2% of Trinity Christian students default on their loans in three years, which is lower than average. Approximately 443 students take at least one class online at Trinity Christian. About 151 of the students at Trinity Christian are attending part time.
Concordia University, Chicago earned the #3 spot in our 2021 rankings. Concordia University, Chicago is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit school located in the large suburb of River Forest.
The student loan default rate at Concordia University, Chicago is lower than is typical, just 0.9% of students default in three years. 4,234 students at Concordia University, Chicago are exclusively online. There are roughly 4,622 part time students in attendance at Concordia University, Chicago.
Purdue University - Main Campus earned the #4 spot in our 2021 rankings. Located in the city of West Lafayette, Purdue is a public school with a very large student population. As a testament to the quality of education offered at Purdue, the school also landed the #1 rank in our Best Colleges for Education in the Great Lakes Region ranking.
The student loan default rate at Purdue is lower than is typical, just 0.8% of students default in three years. There are approximately 19,239 students at Purdue that take at least one class online. 7,612 of Purdue students are attending part time.
University of Wisconsin - Stout landed the #5 spot in our 2021 best education schools for non-traditional students. UW - Stout is a medium-sized public school located in the town of Menomonie.
The school has a low student loan default rate of 0.9%. Approximately 3,297 students take at least one class online at UW - Stout. There are roughly 2,074 part time students in attendance at UW - Stout.
Ashland University earned the #6 spot in our 2021 rankings. Located in the fringe town of Ashland, Ashland is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.
About 1.2% of Ashland students default on their loans in three years, which is lower than average. 1,358 students at Ashland are exclusively online. 1,993 students are part time.
Kent State University at Kent earned the #7 spot in our 2021 rankings. Kent State is a very large public school located in the large suburb of Kent. In addition to being on our bet for non-traditional students list, Kent State is in the top 15% of all schools on our Best Colleges for Education in the Great Lakes Region list.
The student loan default rate at Kent State is lower than is typical, just 1.5% of students default in three years. There are approximately 15,625 students at Kent State that take at least one class online. About 6,651 of the students at Kent State are attending part time.
The #8 spot in this year's ranking belongs to Bowling Green State University - Main Campus. BGSU is a fairly large public school located in the town of Bowling Green.
The school has a low student loan default rate of 2.2%. Approximately 4,353 students take at least one class online at BGSU. 4,329 of BGSU students are attending part time.
Our rankings recognize Ball State University as the #9 school in this year's rankings. Located in the city of Muncie, Ball State is a public college with a fairly large student population. In addition to being on our bet for non-traditional students list, Ball State is in the top 10% of all schools on our Best Colleges for Education in the Great Lakes Region list.
The student loan default rate at Ball State is lower than is typical, just 1.9% of students default in three years. There are approximately 7,100 students at Ball State that take at least one class online. There are roughly 6,060 part time students in attendance at Ball State.
Our rankings recognize Ohio State University - Main Campus as the #10 school in this year's rankings. Located in the city of Columbus, Ohio State is a public school with a fairly large student population. Ohio State also made our Best Colleges for Education in the Great Lakes Region list, coming in at #4.
About 1.2% of Ohio State students default on their loans in three years, which is lower than average. There are approximately 42,293 students at Ohio State that take at least one class online. 8,459 students are part time.
National Louis University comes in at #11 in this year's ranking. NLU is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit school located in the city of Chicago.
The student loan default rate at NLU is lower than is typical, just 1.5% of students default in three years. 3,197 of NLU students are exclusively distance learners. 3,114 students are part time.
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign landed the #12 spot in our 2021 best education schools for non-traditional students. Located in the city of Champaign, UIUC is a public college with a fairly large student population. UIUC not only placed well in our non-traditional rankings. It is also #7 on our Best Colleges for Education in the Great Lakes Region list.
The school has a low student loan default rate of 0.6%. There are approximately 35,475 students at UIUC that take at least one class online. 10,007 students are part time.
University of Wisconsin - Oshkosh comes in at #13 in this year's ranking. UW Oshkosh is a fairly large public school located in the city of Oshkosh. On top of its placing in our non-traditional rankings, UW Oshkosh also did well on our Best Colleges for Education in the Great Lakes Region list. It's in the top 20% of all schools reviewed in that analysis.
The student loan default rate at UW Oshkosh is lower than is typical, just 1.8% of students default in three years. Approximately 3,860 students take at least one class online at UW Oshkosh. About 6,611 of the students at UW Oshkosh are attending part time.
Northeastern Illinois University earned the #14 spot in our 2021 rankings. Northeastern Illinois University is a moderately-sized public school located in the city of Chicago.
The school has a low student loan default rate of 3.4%. Approximately 2,632 students take at least one class online at Northeastern Illinois University. 3,296 students are part time.
Michigan State University comes in at #15 in this year's ranking. Michigan State is a very large public school located in the city of East Lansing. Michigan State did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #9 on our Best Colleges for Education in the Great Lakes Region list.
The school has a low student loan default rate of 0.8%. There are approximately 33,526 students at Michigan State that take at least one class online. About 6,517 of the students at Michigan State are attending part time.
DePaul University landed the #16 spot in our 2021 best education schools for non-traditional students. Located in the large city of Chicago, DePaul is a private not-for-profit college with a very large student population. As a testament to the quality of education it offers, DePaul also is in the top 10% of our Best Colleges for Education in the Great Lakes Region ranking.
The school has a low student loan default rate of 1.0%. There are approximately 8,996 students at DePaul that take at least one class online. There are roughly 3,547 part time students in attendance at DePaul.
Here are some additional great schools for Great Lakes Region non-traditional students studying Education that almost earned our Best Education Colleges for Non-Traditional Students in the Great Lakes Region award.
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).
