2022 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for General Engineering in Illinois (With Aid)

When pursuing a degree in today’s world, students have many different options to choose from. College Factual has developed its “Best Value Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Getting Aid” ranking as one item you can use to help make this decision.

General Engineering is the 78th most popular major in the country with 11,925 degrees awarded in 2019-2020. 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. 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 Getting Aid” ranking analyzed 3 colleges that offered a degree in general engineering. Not only do the schools that top this list have excellent general engineering programs, but they also 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. 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 Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Getting Aid” 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 for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Getting Aid

The colleges and universities below are the best for illinois bachelor’s degree engineering students with aid.

Top 3 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for General Engineering in Illinois (With Aid)

#1

Northwestern University

Evanston, Illinois

#1 in overall quality

$24,664 Average Net Price

Out of the 3 schools in the Best Value Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Getting Aid that were part of this year’s ranking, Northwestern University landed the #1 spot on the list. Northwestern is a large school located in Evanston, Illinois that handed out 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. The estimated yearly cost for Northwestern University is $24,664 for illinois bachelor’s degree engineering students with aid.

With a freshman retention rate of 97%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students. Since the school has a student-to-faculty ratio of 6 to 1, those pursuing a degree will have more opportunities to interact with their professors. 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 more about General Engineering at Northwestern University

#2

Western Illinois University

Macomb, Illinois

#3 in overall quality

$16,210 Average Net Price

$58,221 Average Early-Career Earnings

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 Getting Aid. 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 also took the #3 spot in our “Best General Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for Western Illinois University is $16,210 for Illinois Bachelor’s Degree Engineering students with aid.

Read more about General Engineering at WIU

#3

Olivet Nazarene University

Bourbonnais, Illinois

#2 in overall quality

$20,195 Average Net Price

$61,020 Average Early-Career Earnings

Out of the 3 schools in the Best Value Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Getting Aid that were part of this year’s ranking, Olivet Nazarene University landed the #3 spot on the list. Olivet Nazarene University is located in Bourbonnais, Illinois and, has a small student population. In 2019-2020, this school awarded 79 bachelors’s engineering degrees to qualified students.

In addition to being on our illinois bachelor’s degree engineering students with aid 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 with aid.

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 more about General Engineering at Olivet Nazarene

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

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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