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2022 Best Value Colleges for Engineering-Related Fields (Income $0-$30k) in Illinois

4 Ranked Colleges
235 Degrees Awarded
$10,000 Avg Net Price*
Best Value Engineering-Related Fields Schools in Illinois For Those Making $0-$30k

It’s not easy to decide which college to attend when there so many options available for students. College Factual was founded, in part, to help students make the decision as to what would be the best school for them. Our “Best Value Engineering-Related Fields Schools in Illinois For Those Making $0-$30k” ranking is part of that endeavor.

In 2019-2020, 6,319 people earned their degree in engineering-related fields, making the major the 120th most popular in the United States. In 2017-2018, engineering-related fields graduates who were awarded their degree in 2015-2017, earned an average of $73,026 and had an average of $26,903 in loans still to pay off.

Across Illinois, there were 235 engineering-related fields graduates with average earnings and debt of $107,150 and $40,707 respectively.

For this year’s “Best Value Engineering-Related Fields Schools in Illinois For Those Making $0-$30k” ranking, we looked at 4 colleges that offer a degree in engineering-related fields. This ranking identifies schools with high-quality engineering-related fields programs that also have a lower cost than schools of similar quality.

When determining these rankings, we looked at things such as overall quality of the engineering-related fields program at the school and the cost to attend the school once aid has been awarded. Check out our ranking methodology for more information.

One Size Does Not Fit All

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 “Best Value Engineering-Related Fields Schools in Illinois For Those Making $0-$30k” list to help you make the college decision.

In addition to our rankings, you can take two colleges and compare them based on the criteria that matters most to you in our unique tool, College Combat. When you have some time, check it out - you may want to bookmark the link so you don’t forget it.

The colleges and universities below are the best for illinois engineering-related fields students whose families make $0-$30k.

#1

Northwestern University

Evanston, Illinois

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Northwestern University. The school came in at #1 for the Best Value Engineering-Related Fields Schools in Illinois For Those Making $0-$30k. Northwestern University is a large school located in Evanston, Illinois that handed out 51 ’s engineering-related fields degrees in 2019-2020.

Northwestern did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #1 on our “Best Engineering-Related Fields Schools in Illinois” list. The yearly cost to attend Northwestern University is $1,866 for illinois engineering-related fields students whose families make $0-$30k.

The student loan default rate at the school is 0.8%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%. With a student-to-faculty ratio of 6 to 1, it’s easy to see that the school is committed to helping their undergraduates succeed. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 97%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.

Full Northwestern University Engineering-Related Fields Report

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The school came in at #2 for the Best Value Engineering-Related Fields Schools in Illinois For Those Making $0-$30k. Champaign, Illinois is the setting for this large institution of higher learning. The public school handed out ’s engineering-related fields degrees to 93 students in 2019-2020.

UIUC also made our “Best Engineering-Related Fields Schools in Illinois” list, coming in at #2. It costs about $5,477 for Illinois Engineering-Related Fields students whose families make $0-$30k per year to attend University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

With a freshman retention rate of 94%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students. The low student loan default rate of 2.4% 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%.

Full UIUC Engineering-Related Fields Report

#3

Northern Illinois University

Dekalb, Illinois

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Northern Illinois University. The school came in at #3 for the Best Value Engineering-Related Fields Schools in Illinois For Those Making $0-$30k. Located in Dekalb, Illinois, this fairly large public school awarded 17 degrees to qualified ’s engineering-related fields students in 2019-2020.

NIU not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #4 on our “Best Engineering-Related Fields Schools in Illinois” list. The yearly cost to attend NIU is $15,281 for Illinois Engineering-Related Fields students whose families make $0-$30k.

Full NIU Engineering-Related Fields Report

Out of the 4 schools in the Best Value Engineering-Related Fields Schools in Illinois For Those Making $0-$30k that were part of this year’s ranking, Illinois Institute of Technology landed the #4 spot on the list. Located in Chicago, Illinois, this medium-sized private not-for-profit school handed out 72 diplomas to qualified ’s engineering-related fields students in 2019-2020.

Illinois Tech also made our “Best Engineering-Related Fields Schools in Illinois” list, coming in at #3. The estimated yearly cost for Illinois Tech is $17,222 for illinois engineering-related fields students whose families make $0-$30k.

Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 87%. 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%. 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.

Read more about Engineering-Related Fields at Illinois Institute of Technology

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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.

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