2022 Best Value Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s 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 has developed its “Best Value Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Making $0-$30k” ranking as one item you can use to help make this decision.

In 2019-2020, 9,411 people earned their degree in general engineering, making the major the 83rd most popular in the United States.

Across Illinois, there were 444 general engineering graduates with average earnings and debt of $0 and $0 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 96 general engineering graduates with average earnings and debt of $38,319 and $24,183 respectively.

This year’s “Best Value Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Making $0-$30k” ranking analyzed 3 colleges that offered a degree in general engineering. This ranking identifies schools with high-quality general engineering programs that also have a lower cost than schools of similar quality.

To come up with these rankings, we looked at factors such as the cost to attend the school after aid is awarded and overall quality of the general engineering program at the school. Check out our ranking methodology for more information.

More Ways to Rank General Engineering Schools

Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we’ve developed the “Best Value Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Making $0-$30k” ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.

We’ve created a tool called College Combat that lets you create your own customized comparisons based on the factors that matter the most to you. Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.

Best Value Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Making $0-$30k

The following schools top our list of the Best Best Value Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Making $0-$30k.

Top 3 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for General Engineering (Income $0-$30k) in Illinois

#1

Northwestern University

Evanston, Illinois

#1 in overall quality

$1,866 Average Net Price

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 Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Making $0-$30k. This large school is located in Evanston, Illinois, and it awarded 5 bachelors’s engineering degrees in 2019-2020.

Northwestern also took the #1 spot in our “Best General Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” ranking. It costs about $1,866 for illinois bachelor’s degree engineering students whose families make $0-$30k per year to attend Northwestern University.

The student-to-faculty ratio of 6 to 1 is a sign that students will have more opportunities to engage with their professors one-on-one. With a freshman retention rate of 97%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students. The low student loan default rate of 0.8% 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%.

Read full report on General Engineering at Northwestern

#2

Western Illinois University

Macomb, Illinois

#3 in overall quality

$13,942 Average Net Price

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Western Illinois University. The school came in at #2 for the Best Value Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Making $0-$30k. WIU is located in Macomb, Illinois and, has a medium-sized student population. In 2019-2020, this school awarded 10 bachelors’s engineering degrees to qualified students.

WIU did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #3 on our “Best General Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” list. The estimated yearly cost for Western Illinois University is $13,942 for Illinois Bachelor’s Degree Engineering students whose families make $0-$30k.

Read full report on General Engineering at Western Illinois University

#3

Olivet Nazarene University

Bourbonnais, Illinois

#2 in overall quality

$15,806 Average Net Price

Out of the 3 schools in the Best Value Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Making $0-$30k that were part of this year’s ranking, Olivet Nazarene University landed the #3 spot on the list. Located in Bourbonnais, Illinois, this small private not-for-profit school awarded 79 diplomas to qualified bachelors’s engineering students in 2019-2020.

In addition to being on our illinois bachelor’s degree engineering students whose families make $0-$30k list, Olivet Nazarene has also earned the #2 rank in our “Best General Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” ranking. The yearly cost to attend Olivet Nazarene is $15,806 for illinois bachelor’s degree engineering students whose families make $0-$30k.

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%.

Full Olivet Nazarene General Engineering Report

• Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for General Engineering (Income $0-$30k) in the Great Lakes Region
• Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for General Engineering (Income $0-$30k)

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 Rémi Kaupp.

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