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2022 Best Value Materials Processing and Manufacturing Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Great Lakes Region

12 Ranked Colleges
450 Degrees Awarded
$19,500 Avg Net Price*
Best Value Materials Processing and Manufacturing Schools for a Bachelor's in the Great Lakes Region

Students have lots of options to chooose from today when trying to decide which college to attend. Our mission at College Factual is to arm you with as much information as we can to help you make that decision. Our “Best Value Materials Processing and Manufacturing Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Great Lakes Region” ranking is one tool we have developed to help in this regard.

General Materials Engineering is the 189th most popular major in the country with 3,485 degrees awarded in 2019-2020.

Across the Great Lakes region, there were 781 general materials engineering graduates with average earnings and debt of $0 and $0 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 450 general materials engineering graduates with average earnings and debt of $39,075 and $25,381 respectively.

For this year’s “Best Value Materials Processing and Manufacturing Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Great Lakes Region” ranking, we looked at 12 colleges that offer a degree in general materials engineering. This ranking identifies schools with high-quality general materials engineering programs that also have a lower cost than schools of similar quality.

Some of the factors we look at when determining these rankings are overall quality of the general materials 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.

One Size Does Not Fit All

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

In addition to College Factual’s rankings, you may want to take a look at College Combat, our unique tool that lets you pit your favorite schools head-to-head and compare how they rate on factors that most interest you. Test it out by comparing your favorite schools against others you are considering, or bookmark the tool so you can experiment with it later.

Best Value Materials Processing and Manufacturing Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Great Lakes Region

The following schools top our list of the Best Best Value Materials Processing and Manufacturing Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Great Lakes Region.

Top 12 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for General Materials Engineering in the Great Lakes Region

#1

Purdue University - Main Campus

West Lafayette, Indiana
#5 in overall quality

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Purdue University - Main Campus. The school came in at #1 for the Best Value Materials Processing and Manufacturing Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Great Lakes Region. Purdue University - Main Campus is located in West Lafayette, Indiana and, has a large student population. In 2019-2020, this school awarded 64 bachelors’s materials processing and manufacturing degrees to qualified students.

Purdue also took the #5 spot in our “Best General Materials Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for Purdue is $13,986 for great lakes region bachelor’s degree materials processing and manufacturing students.

The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 2.2%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 93%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.

Read full report on General Materials Engineering at Purdue

#10 in overall quality

Out of the 12 schools in the Best Value Materials Processing and Manufacturing Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Great Lakes Region that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee landed the #2 spot on the list. Located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, this large public school awarded 16 diplomas to qualified bachelors’s materials processing and manufacturing students in 2019-2020.

UWM also made our “Best General Materials Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region” list, coming in at #10. It costs about $17,876 for great lakes region bachelor’s degree materials processing and manufacturing students per year to attend UWM.

Read full report on General Materials Engineering at UWM

#12 in overall quality

Out of the 12 schools in the Best Value Materials Processing and Manufacturing Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Great Lakes Region that were part of this year’s ranking, Wright State University - Main Campus landed the #3 spot on the list. Located in Dayton, Ohio, this fairly large public school awarded 13 degrees to qualified bachelors’s materials processing and manufacturing students in 2019-2020.

Wright State University - Main Campus not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #12 on our “Best General Materials Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region” list. The yearly cost to attend Wright State University - Main Campus is $16,823 for Great Lakes Region Bachelor’s Degree Materials Processing and Manufacturing students.

Read more about General Materials Engineering at Wright State University - Main Campus

#3 in overall quality

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The school came in at #4 for the Best Value Materials Processing and Manufacturing Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Great Lakes Region. UIUC is a large school located in Champaign, Illinois that handed out 87 bachelors’s materials processing and manufacturing degrees in 2019-2020.

UIUC not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #3 on our “Best General Materials Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region” list. It costs about $15,880 for Great Lakes Region Bachelor’s Degree Materials Processing and Manufacturing students per year to attend University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 2.4%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 94%.

Full University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign General Materials Engineering Report

#7 in overall quality

Out of the 12 schools in the Best Value Materials Processing and Manufacturing Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Great Lakes Region that were part of this year’s ranking, Ohio State University - Main Campus landed the #5 spot on the list. Ohio State is a large school located in Columbus, Ohio that handed out 72 bachelors’s materials processing and manufacturing degrees in 2019-2020.

Ohio State also took the #7 spot in our “Best General Materials Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region” ranking. It costs about $17,616 for Great Lakes Region Bachelor’s Degree Materials Processing and Manufacturing students per year to attend Ohio State.

Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 94%. The low student loan default rate of 4.4% 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 Ohio State University - Main Campus General Materials Engineering Report

#4 in overall quality

University of Wisconsin - Madison landed the #6 spot on the 2022 Best Value Materials Processing and Manufacturing Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Great Lakes Region ranking. UW - Madison is a large school located in Madison, Wisconsin that handed out 50 bachelors’s materials processing and manufacturing degrees in 2019-2020.

In addition to being on our great lakes region bachelor’s degree materials processing and manufacturing students list, UW - Madison has also earned the #4 rank in our “Best General Materials Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for UW - Madison is $17,708 for Great Lakes Region Bachelor’s Degree Materials Processing and Manufacturing 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%. Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 95%.

Full University of Wisconsin - Madison General Materials Engineering Report

#6 in overall quality

Michigan Technological University landed the #7 spot on the 2022 Best Value Materials Processing and Manufacturing Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Great Lakes Region ranking. Located in Houghton, Michigan, this medium-sized public school awarded 30 diplomas to qualified bachelors’s materials processing and manufacturing students in 2019-2020.

In addition to being on our great lakes region bachelor’s degree materials processing and manufacturing students list, Michigan Tech has also earned the #6 rank in our “Best General Materials Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region” ranking. It costs about $16,463 for Great Lakes Region Bachelor’s Degree Materials Processing and Manufacturing 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 student loan default rate at the school is 2.3%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

Full Michigan Tech General Materials Engineering Report

#8

Michigan State University

East Lansing, Michigan
#8 in overall quality

Michigan State University came in at #8 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Materials Processing and Manufacturing Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Great Lakes Region ranking. This large school is located in East Lansing, Michigan, and it awarded 30 bachelors’s materials processing and manufacturing degrees in 2019-2020.

Michigan State did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #8 on our “Best General Materials Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region” list. It costs about $19,173 for great lakes region bachelor’s degree materials processing and manufacturing students per year to attend Michigan State University.

The student loan default rate at the school is 3.6%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 91%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.

Read more about General Materials Engineering at Michigan State University

#2 in overall quality

University of Michigan - Ann Arbor landed the #9 spot on the 2022 Best Value Materials Processing and Manufacturing Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Great Lakes Region ranking. This large school is located in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and it awarded 47 bachelors’s materials processing and manufacturing degrees in 2019-2020.

U-M did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #2 on our “Best General Materials Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region” list. It costs about $15,336 for Great Lakes Region Bachelor’s Degree Materials Processing and Manufacturing students per year to attend U-M.

Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 96%. The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 1.2%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.

Read more about General Materials Engineering at University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

#11 in overall quality

With a ranking of #10, Illinois Institute of Technology did quite well on the 2022 Best Value Materials Processing and Manufacturing Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Great Lakes Region list. Illinois Institute of Technology is a medium-sized school located in Chicago, Illinois that handed out 5 bachelors’s materials processing and manufacturing degrees in 2019-2020.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at Illinois Tech, the school also landed the #11 spot in our “Best General Materials Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for Illinois Institute of Technology is $22,831 for Great Lakes Region Bachelor’s Degree Materials Processing and Manufacturing students.

The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 2.9%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. 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. With a freshman retention rate of 87%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students.

Read more about General Materials Engineering at Illinois Tech

#9 in overall quality

Case Western Reserve University came in at #11 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Materials Processing and Manufacturing Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Great Lakes Region ranking. Case Western Reserve University is located in Cleveland, Ohio and, has a fairly large student population. In 2019-2020, this school awarded 15 bachelors’s materials processing and manufacturing degrees to qualified students.

Case Western not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #9 on our “Best General Materials Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region” list. It costs about $35,428 for great lakes region bachelor’s degree materials processing and manufacturing students per year to attend Case Western.

The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 1.4%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 93%.

Read full report on General Materials Engineering at Case Western

#12

Northwestern University

Evanston, Illinois
#1 in overall quality

Northwestern University landed the #12 spot on the 2022 Best Value Materials Processing and Manufacturing Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Great Lakes Region ranking. Evanston, Illinois is the setting for this large institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out bachelors’s materials processing and manufacturing degrees to 14 students in 2019-2020.

Northwestern did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #1 on our “Best General Materials Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region” list. It costs about $24,664 for great lakes region bachelor’s degree materials processing and manufacturing students per year to attend Northwestern.

With a freshman retention rate of 97%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students. With a student-to-faculty ratio of 6 to 1, it’s easy to see that the school is committed to helping their undergraduates succeed. 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%.

Full Northwestern University General Materials Engineering Report

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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 Panoramedia.

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