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2022 Best Value Engineering Schools in Illinois For Those Making $30-$48k

6 Ranked Colleges
444 Degrees Awarded
$11,300 Avg Net Price*
Best Value Engineering Schools in Illinois For Those Making $30-$48k

Students have lots of options to chooose from today when trying to decide which college to attend. One of our goals at College Factual is to give you as much information as we can - such as our “Best Value Engineering Schools in Illinois For Those Making $30-$48k” ranking - to help you make that decision.

In 2019-2020, 11,925 people earned their degree in general engineering, making the major the 78th most popular in the United States. In 2017-2018, general engineering graduates who were awarded their degree in 2015-2017, earned an average of $66,152 and had an average of $20,077 in loans still to pay off.

Across Illinois, there were 444 general engineering graduates with average earnings and debt of $64,650 and $24,821 respectively.

For this year’s “Best Value Engineering Schools in Illinois For Those Making $30-$48k” ranking, we looked at 6 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. For more information, check out our ranking methodology.

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 Schools in Illinois For Those Making $30-$48k” 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.

Best Value Engineering Schools in Illinois For Those Making $30-$48k

The following schools top our list of the Best Best Value Engineering Schools in Illinois For Those Making $30-$48k.

Top 6 Best Value Colleges for General Engineering (Income $30-$48k) in Illinois

#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 Schools in Illinois For Those Making $30-$48k. Northwestern University is located in Evanston, Illinois and, has a large student population. In 2019-2020, this school awarded 5 ’s engineering degrees to qualified students.

Northwestern also took the #1 spot in our “Best General Engineering Schools in Illinois” ranking. The yearly cost to attend Northwestern University is $3,995 for illinois engineering students whose families make $30-$48k.

With a freshman retention rate of 97%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students. 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. 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%.

Read more about General Engineering at Northwestern University

Out of the 6 schools in the Best Value Engineering Schools in Illinois For Those Making $30-$48k that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign landed the #2 spot on the list. Located in Champaign, Illinois, this large public school awarded 20 degrees to qualified ’s engineering students in 2019-2020.

UIUC not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #2 on our “Best General Engineering Schools in Illinois” list. The estimated yearly cost for University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is $8,464 for illinois engineering students whose families make $30-$48k.

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%. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 94%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.

Read more about General Engineering at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of Illinois at Chicago. It ranked #3 on our 2022 Best Value Engineering Schools in Illinois For Those Making $30-$48k list. UIC is a public institution located in Chicago, Illinois. The school has a large population, and it awarded 8 ’s degrees in 2019-2020.

In addition to being on our illinois engineering students whose families make $30-$48k list, UIC has also earned the #4 rank in our “Best General Engineering Schools in Illinois” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for UIC is $11,185 for Illinois Engineering students whose families make $30-$48k.

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%.

Full University of Illinois at Chicago General Engineering Report

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Southern Illinois University Carbondale. The school came in at #4 for the Best Value Engineering Schools in Illinois For Those Making $30-$48k. SIUC is a public institution located in Carbondale, Illinois. The school has a fairly large population, and it awarded 5 ’s degrees in 2019-2020.

In addition to being on our illinois engineering students whose families make $30-$48k list, SIUC has also earned the #5 rank in our “Best General Engineering Schools in Illinois” ranking. The yearly cost to attend SIUC is $14,306 for Illinois Engineering students whose families make $30-$48k.

Read full report on General Engineering at SIUC

#5

Western Illinois University

Macomb, Illinois

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Western Illinois University. It ranked #5 on our 2022 Best Value Engineering Schools in Illinois For Those Making $30-$48k list. Western Illinois University is located in Macomb, Illinois and, has a medium-sized student population. In 2019-2020, this school awarded 10 ’s engineering degrees to qualified students.

WIU also took the #6 spot in our “Best General Engineering Schools in Illinois” ranking. It costs about $14,526 for illinois engineering students whose families make $30-$48k per year to attend Western Illinois University.

Full WIU General Engineering Report

#6

Olivet Nazarene University

Bourbonnais, Illinois

Olivet Nazarene University landed the #6 spot on the 2022 Best Value Engineering Schools in Illinois For Those Making $30-$48k ranking. Bourbonnais, Illinois is the setting for this small institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out ’s engineering degrees to 79 students in 2019-2020.

Olivet Nazarene did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #3 on our “Best General Engineering Schools in Illinois” list. The yearly cost to attend Olivet Nazarene University is $15,390 for Illinois Engineering students whose families make $30-$48k.

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%.

Read full report on General Engineering at Olivet Nazarene

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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.

Credits

  • Credit for the banner image above goes to Rémi Kaupp.

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