2022 Best Value Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois

Students have lots of options to chooose from today when trying to decide which college to attend. College Factual has developed its “Best Value Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois” ranking as one item you can use to help make this decision.

General Engineering is the 83rd most popular major in the country with 9,411 degrees awarded in 2019-2020.

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.

For this year’s “Best Value Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois” ranking, we looked at 3 colleges that offer a degree in general engineering. The schools that top this list are recognized because they have great general engineering programs and cost less that schools of similar quality.

Some of the factors we look at when determining these rankings are overall quality of the general engineering program at the school and the cost of the school after aid is awarded among other things. See our ranking methodology to learn more.

More Ways to Rank General Engineering Schools

Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we’ve developed a number of rankings, including this “Best Value Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois” list, to help you choose the best school for you.

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. 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 Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois

The following schools top our list of the Best Best Value Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois.

Top 3 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for General Engineering in Illinois

#1

Western Illinois University

Macomb, Illinois

#3 in overall quality

$16,210 Average Net Price

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Western Illinois University. It ranked #1 on our 2022 Best Value Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois list. Western Illinois University is a medium-sized school located in Macomb, Illinois that handed out 10 bachelors’s engineering degrees in 2019-2020.

WIU also made our “Best General Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” list, coming in at #3. The yearly cost to attend Western Illinois University is $16,210 for illinois bachelor’s degree engineering students.

Read more about General Engineering at WIU

#2

Olivet Nazarene University

Bourbonnais, Illinois

#2 in overall quality

$20,195 Average Net Price

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Olivet Nazarene University. The school came in at #2 for the Best Value Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois. Olivet Nazarene University is a private not-for-profit institution located in Bourbonnais, Illinois. The school has a small population, and it awarded 79 bachelors’s degrees in 2019-2020.

In addition to being on our illinois bachelor’s degree engineering students 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 University is $20,195 for Illinois Bachelor’s Degree Engineering students.

The low student loan default rate of 3.4% 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%.

Read more about General Engineering at Olivet Nazarene University

#3

Northwestern University

Evanston, Illinois

#1 in overall quality

$24,664 Average Net Price

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Northwestern University. The school came in at #3 for the Best Value Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois. Northwestern is located in Evanston, Illinois and, has a large student population. In 2019-2020, this school awarded 5 bachelors’s engineering degrees to qualified students.

In addition to being on our illinois bachelor’s degree engineering students list, Northwestern has also earned the #1 rank in our “Best General Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” ranking. It costs about $24,664 for Illinois Bachelor’s Degree Engineering students per year to attend Northwestern.

Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 97%. 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%. The impressive 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.

Full Northwestern General Engineering Report

• Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for General Engineering in the Great Lakes Region
• Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for General Engineering

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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