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

It’s not easy to decide which college to attend when there so many options available for students. One of our goals at College Factual is to give you as much information as we can - such as our “Best Value Materials Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Getting Aid” ranking - to help you make that decision.

Materials Engineering is the 150th most popular major in the country with 3,485 degrees awarded in 2019-2020. In 2017-2018, materials engineering graduates who were awarded their degree in 2015-2017, earned an average of $63,129 and had an average of $23,918 in loans still to pay off.

Across Illinois, there were 213 materials engineering graduates with average earnings and debt of $62,200 and $19,750 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 106 materials engineering graduates with average earnings and debt of $38,319 and $24,183 respectively.

For this year’s “Best Value Materials Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Getting Aid” ranking, we looked at 3 colleges that offer a degree in materials engineering. Not only do the schools that top this list have excellent materials engineering programs, but they also cost less that schools of similar quality.

To come up with these rankings, we looked at factors such as the cost to attend the school after aid is awarded and overall quality of the materials engineering program at the school. Check out our ranking methodology for more information.

One Size Does Not Fit All

The materials engineering school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we’ve developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of “Best Value Materials Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Getting Aid”.

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. We encourage you to try it out and pit your favorite colleges and universities head to head! If you don’t have time right now, you can bookmark it for later.

Best Value Materials 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 materials engineering students with aid.

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

#1

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Champaign, Illinois

#2 in overall quality

$15,880 Average Net Price

$68,499 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. It ranked #1 on our 2022 Best Value Materials Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Getting Aid list. UIUC is a large school located in Champaign, Illinois that handed out 87 bachelors’s materials engineering degrees in 2019-2020.

UIUC not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #2 on our “Best Materials Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” list. The yearly cost to attend UIUC is $15,880 for Illinois Bachelor’s Degree Materials Engineering students with aid.

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%. With a freshman retention rate of 94%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students.

Full University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Materials Engineering Report

#2

Northwestern University

Evanston, Illinois

#1 in overall quality

$24,664 Average Net Price

$73,635 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Northwestern University. It ranked #2 on our 2022 Best Value Materials Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Getting Aid list. Evanston, Illinois is the setting for this large institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out bachelors’s materials engineering degrees to 14 students in 2019-2020.

Northwestern did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #1 on our “Best Materials Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” list. The estimated yearly cost for Northwestern University is $24,664 for Illinois Bachelor’s Degree Materials Engineering students with aid.

The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 97%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year. 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%. 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.

Read full report on Materials Engineering at Northwestern

#3

Illinois Institute of Technology

Chicago, Illinois

#3 in overall quality

$22,831 Average Net Price

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Illinois Institute of Technology. It ranked #3 on our 2022 Best Value Materials Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Getting Aid list. Illinois Institute of Technology is a private not-for-profit institution located in Chicago, Illinois. The school has a medium-sized population, and it awarded 5 bachelors’s degrees in 2019-2020.

Illinois Tech did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #3 on our “Best Materials Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” list. The estimated yearly cost for Illinois Institute of Technology is $22,831 for Illinois Bachelor’s Degree Materials Engineering students with aid.

With a student-to-faculty ratio of 10 to 1, it’s easy to see that the school is committed to helping their undergraduates succeed. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 87%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year. The student loan default rate at the school is 2.9%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

Full Illinois Institute of Technology Materials Engineering Report

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

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