2022 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for General Engineering in the Great Lakes Region
When it comes to choosing a college, students have a lot of options - but not all of them are good. One of our goals at College Factual is to give you as much information as we can - such as our “Best Value Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Great Lakes Region” ranking - to help you make that 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 the Great Lakes region, there were 1,754 general engineering graduates with average earnings and debt of $72,330 and $24,526 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 555 general engineering graduates with average earnings and debt of $39,075 and $25,381 respectively.
This year’s “Best Value Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Great Lakes Region” ranking looked at 14 colleges that offer degrees in a bachelor’s 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.
When determining these rankings, we looked at things such as overall quality of the general engineering program at the school and the cost to attend the school once aid has been awarded. Check out our ranking methodology for more information.
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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 the Great Lakes Region” list, to help you choose the best school for you.
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Best Value Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Great Lakes Region
The following schools top our list of the Best Best Value Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Great Lakes Region.
Top 14 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for General Engineering in the Great Lakes Region
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 the Great Lakes Region list. WIU is a medium-sized school located in Macomb, Illinois that handed out 10 bachelors’s engineering degrees in 2019-2020.
WIU not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #13 on our “Best General Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region” list. The estimated yearly cost for Western Illinois University is $16,210 for great lakes region bachelor’s degree engineering students.
You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of Southern Indiana. It ranked #2 on our 2022 Best Value Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Great Lakes Region list. This fairly large school is located in Evansville, Indiana, and it awarded 27 bachelors’s engineering degrees in 2019-2020.
As a testament to the quality of education offered at USI, the school also landed the #11 spot in our “Best General Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for University of Southern Indiana is $13,437 for great lakes region bachelor’s degree engineering students.
The student loan default rate at the school is 5.0%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.
You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Ohio University - Athens Campus. It ranked #3 on our 2022 Best Value Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Great Lakes Region list. This large school is located in Athens, Ohio, and it awarded 69 bachelors’s engineering degrees in 2019-2020.
OHIO Athens also made our “Best General Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region” list, coming in at #9. The estimated yearly cost for OHIO Athens is $22,906 for great lakes region bachelor’s degree engineering students.
You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of Akron Main Campus. It ranked #4 on our 2022 Best Value Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Great Lakes Region list. Akron, Ohio is the setting for this fairly large institution of higher learning. The public school handed out bachelors’s engineering degrees to 4 students in 2019-2020.
University of Akron Main Campus did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #14 on our “Best General Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region” list. The yearly cost to attend University of Akron Main Campus is $17,792 for Great Lakes Region Bachelor’s Degree Engineering students.
Read more about General Engineering at University of Akron Main Campus
You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Hope College. It ranked #5 on our 2022 Best Value Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Great Lakes Region list. Holland, Michigan is the setting for this small institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out bachelors’s engineering degrees to 57 students in 2019-2020.
Hope not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #3 on our “Best General Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region” list. It costs about $26,562 for Great Lakes Region Bachelor’s Degree Engineering students per year to attend Hope College.
Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 87%. The low student loan default rate of 2.1% 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%.
Andrews University ranked #6 on this year’s Best Value Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Great Lakes Region list. Located in Berrien Springs, Michigan, this small private not-for-profit school handed out 16 diplomas to qualified bachelors’s engineering students in 2019-2020.
Andrews not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #12 on our “Best General Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region” list. It costs about $21,934 for Great Lakes Region Bachelor’s Degree Engineering students per year to attend Andrews University.
With a freshman retention rate of 85%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students. Since the school has a student-to-faculty ratio of 10 to 1, those pursuing a degree will have more opportunities to interact with their professors. The low student loan default rate of 4.8% 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%.
Calvin University ranked #7 on this year’s Best Value Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Great Lakes Region list. Grand Rapids, Michigan is the setting for this small institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out bachelors’s engineering degrees to 83 students in 2019-2020.
Calvin not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #4 on our “Best General Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region” list. The estimated yearly cost for Calvin University is $26,647 for Great Lakes Region Bachelor’s Degree Engineering students.
Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 87%. The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 1.6%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.
With a ranking of #8, Olivet Nazarene University did quite well on the 2022 Best Value Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Great Lakes Region list. Olivet Nazarene is a small private not-for-profit school situated in Bourbonnais, Illinois. It awarded 79 bachelors’s engineering degrees in 2019-2020.
In addition to being on our great lakes region bachelor’s degree engineering students list, Olivet Nazarene has also earned the #8 rank in our “Best General Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for Olivet Nazarene is $20,195 for great lakes region bachelor’s degree engineering students.
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%.
With a ranking of #9, Michigan State University did quite well on the 2022 Best Value Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Great Lakes Region list. East Lansing, Michigan is the setting for this large institution of higher learning. The public school handed out bachelors’s engineering degrees to 125 students in 2019-2020.
Michigan State not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #2 on our “Best General Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region” list. The yearly cost to attend Michigan State University is $19,173 for great lakes region bachelor’s degree engineering students.
Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 91%. The low student loan default rate of 3.6% 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 Michigan State University
With a ranking of #10, Michigan Technological University did quite well on the 2022 Best Value Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Great Lakes Region list. Michigan Technological University is a public institution located in Houghton, Michigan. The school has a medium-sized population, and it awarded 3 bachelors’s degrees in 2019-2020.
Michigan Tech also made our “Best General Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region” list, coming in at #7. It costs about $16,463 for Great Lakes Region Bachelor’s Degree Engineering students per year to attend Michigan Tech.
Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 86%. The low student loan default rate of 2.3% 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%.
Miami University - Oxford came in at #11 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Great Lakes Region ranking. Located in Oxford, Ohio, this fairly large public school awarded 9 diplomas to qualified bachelors’s engineering students in 2019-2020.
Miami University - Oxford did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #10 on our “Best General Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region” list. The estimated yearly cost for Miami University - Oxford is $24,323 for Great Lakes Region Bachelor’s Degree Engineering students.
With a freshman retention rate of 88%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students.
Read more about General Engineering at Miami University - Oxford
Milwaukee School of Engineering did quite well in the 2022 Best Value Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Great Lakes Region ranking, coming in at #12. MSOE is a private not-for-profit institution located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The school has a small population, and it awarded 3 bachelors’s degrees in 2019-2020.
MSOE did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #5 on our “Best General Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region” list. The estimated yearly cost for Milwaukee School of Engineering is $24,440 for great lakes region bachelor’s degree engineering students.
The student loan default rate at the school is 1.8%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.
With a ranking of #13, Case Western Reserve University did quite well on the 2022 Best Value Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Great Lakes Region list. Case Western is a fairly large school located in Cleveland, Ohio that handed out 1 bachelors’s engineering degrees in 2019-2020.
Case Western did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #6 on our “Best General Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region” list. The yearly cost to attend Case Western is $35,428 for great lakes region bachelor’s degree engineering students.
The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 93%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year. The student loan default rate at the school is 1.4%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.
Read more about General Engineering at Case Western Reserve University
Northwestern University ranked #14 on this year’s Best Value Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Great Lakes Region list. Northwestern University is a private not-for-profit institution located in Evanston, Illinois. The school has a large population, and it awarded 5 bachelors’s degrees in 2019-2020.
As a testament to the quality of education offered at Northwestern, the school also landed the #1 spot in our “Best General Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region” ranking. It costs about $24,664 for great lakes region bachelor’s degree engineering students per year to attend Northwestern University.
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. 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%. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 97%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.
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Best General Engineering Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region
General Engineering students in the Great Lakes Region
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General Engineering students in the Great Lakes Region
Most Popular Bachelor's Degree Online General Engineering Schools
General Engineering students in the Great Lakes Region
Best Value Bachelor's Degree Colleges for General Engineering (Income $0-$30k) in the Great Lakes Region
General Engineering students with family income less than $30k in the Great Lakes Region
Best Value Bachelor's Degree Colleges for General Engineering (Income $48-$75k) in the Great Lakes Region
General Engineering students with family income $48-$75k in the Great Lakes Region
Best Value Bachelor's Degree Colleges for General Engineering (Income Over $110k) in the Great Lakes Region
General Engineering students with family income exceeding $110k in the Great Lakes Region
Highest Paid Bachelor's Degree General Engineering Graduates in the Great Lakes Region
General Engineering students in the Great Lakes Region
Most Popular Bachelor's Degree Colleges for General Engineering in the Great Lakes Region
General Engineering students in the Great Lakes Region
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General Engineering students getting aid in the Great Lakes Region
Best Value Bachelor's Degree Colleges for General Engineering (Income $30-$48k) in the Great Lakes Region
General Engineering students with family income $30-$48k in the Great Lakes Region
Best Value Bachelor's Degree Colleges for General Engineering (Income $75-$110k) in the Great Lakes Region
General Engineering students with family income $75-$110k in the Great Lakes Region
Best Value Bachelor's Degree Colleges for General Engineering in the Great Lakes Region
General Engineering students in the Great Lakes Region
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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