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2022 Best Value General Mechanical Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois

9 Ranked Colleges
861 Degrees Awarded
$18,700 Avg Net Price*
Best Value General Mechanical Engineering Schools for a Bachelor's in Illinois

When pursuing a degree in today’s world, students have many different options to choose from. One of our goals at College Factual is to give you as much information as we can - such as our “Best Value General Mechanical Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois” ranking - to help you make that decision.

In 2019-2020, 47,598 people earned their degree in general mechanical engineering, making the major the 12th most popular in the United States.

Across Illinois, there were 1,232 general mechanical engineering graduates with average earnings and debt of $0 and $0 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 861 general mechanical engineering graduates with average earnings and debt of $38,319 and $24,183 respectively.

This year’s “Best Value General Mechanical Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois” ranking looked at 9 colleges that offer degrees in a bachelor’s in general mechanical engineering. The schools that top this list are recognized because they have great general mechanical engineering programs and 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 general mechanical engineering program at the school. See our ranking methodology to learn more.

One Size Does Not Fit All

Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we’ve developed the “Best Value General Mechanical Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois” ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.

You can create your own custom comparison that focuses on the factors most important to you using our tool, College Combat. Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.

Best Value General Mechanical Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois

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

Top 9 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for General Mechanical Engineering in Illinois

#2 in overall quality

Out of the 9 schools in the Best Value General Mechanical Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign landed the #1 spot on the list. Located in Champaign, Illinois, this large public school handed out 179 diplomas to qualified bachelors’s general mechanical engineering students in 2019-2020.

In addition to being on our illinois bachelor’s degree general mechanical engineering students list, UIUC has also earned the #2 rank in our “Best General Mechanical Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” ranking. The yearly cost to attend University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is $15,880 for illinois bachelor’s degree general mechanical engineering students.

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

Read full report on General Mechanical Engineering at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

#8 in overall quality

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. The school came in at #2 for the Best Value General Mechanical Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois. Located in Edwardsville, Illinois, this fairly large public school awarded 82 diplomas to qualified bachelors’s general mechanical engineering students in 2019-2020.

SIUE also made our “Best General Mechanical Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” list, coming in at #8. It costs about $14,423 for illinois bachelor’s degree general mechanical engineering students per year to attend SIUE.

Read full report on General Mechanical Engineering at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville

#5 in overall quality

Out of the 9 schools in the Best Value General Mechanical Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Illinois at Chicago landed the #3 spot on the list. UIC is a large school located in Chicago, Illinois that handed out 173 bachelors’s general mechanical engineering degrees in 2019-2020.

UIC did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #5 on our “Best General Mechanical Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” list. The yearly cost to attend University of Illinois at Chicago is $13,312 for illinois bachelor’s degree general mechanical engineering students.

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 UIC General Mechanical Engineering Report

#4

Northern Illinois University

Dekalb, Illinois
#6 in overall quality

Out of the 9 schools in the Best Value General Mechanical Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois that were part of this year’s ranking, Northern Illinois University landed the #4 spot on the list. Located in Dekalb, Illinois, this fairly large public school awarded 123 degrees to qualified bachelors’s general mechanical engineering students in 2019-2020.

NIU not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #6 on our “Best General Mechanical Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” list. The estimated yearly cost for Northern Illinois University is $18,259 for Illinois Bachelor’s Degree General Mechanical Engineering students.

Full NIU General Mechanical Engineering Report

#7 in overall quality

Out of the 9 schools in the Best Value General Mechanical Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois that were part of this year’s ranking, Southern Illinois University Carbondale landed the #5 spot on the list. SIUC is a fairly large school located in Carbondale, Illinois that handed out 56 bachelors’s general mechanical engineering degrees in 2019-2020.

SIUC not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #7 on our “Best General Mechanical Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” list. The estimated yearly cost for SIUC is $16,945 for illinois bachelor’s degree general mechanical engineering students.

Full SIUC General Mechanical Engineering Report

#6

Western Illinois University

Macomb, Illinois
#9 in overall quality

With a ranking of #6, Western Illinois University did quite well on the 2022 Best Value General Mechanical Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois list. WIU is a medium-sized school located in Macomb, Illinois that handed out 14 bachelors’s general mechanical engineering degrees in 2019-2020.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at WIU, the school also landed the #9 spot in our “Best General Mechanical Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for WIU is $16,210 for Illinois Bachelor’s Degree General Mechanical Engineering students.

Full Western Illinois University General Mechanical Engineering Report

#7

Bradley University

Peoria, Illinois
#3 in overall quality

Bradley University landed the #7 spot on the 2022 Best Value General Mechanical Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois ranking. This medium-sized school is located in Peoria, Illinois, and it awarded 73 bachelors’s general mechanical engineering degrees in 2019-2020.

Bradley not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #3 on our “Best General Mechanical Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” list. The yearly cost to attend Bradley is $25,634 for Illinois Bachelor’s Degree General Mechanical Engineering students.

The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 86%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year. The low student loan default rate of 2.5% 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 Bradley University General Mechanical Engineering Report

#4 in overall quality

Illinois Institute of Technology landed the #8 spot on the 2022 Best Value General Mechanical Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois ranking. Chicago, Illinois is the setting for this medium-sized institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out bachelors’s general mechanical engineering degrees to 91 students in 2019-2020.

Illinois Tech also took the #4 spot in our “Best General Mechanical Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” ranking. It costs about $22,831 for Illinois Bachelor’s Degree General Mechanical Engineering students per year to attend Illinois Tech.

With a freshman retention rate of 87%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students. The low student loan default rate of 2.9% 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 student-to-faculty ratio of 10 to 1, it’s easy to see that the school is committed to helping their undergraduates succeed.

Read more about General Mechanical Engineering at Illinois Tech

#9

Northwestern University

Evanston, Illinois
#1 in overall quality

Northwestern University landed the #9 spot on the 2022 Best Value General Mechanical Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois ranking. This large school is located in Evanston, Illinois, and it awarded 67 bachelors’s general mechanical engineering degrees in 2019-2020.

Northwestern also made our “Best General Mechanical Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” list, coming in at #1. It costs about $24,664 for Illinois Bachelor’s Degree General Mechanical Engineering students per year to attend Northwestern University.

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

Full Northwestern University General Mechanical 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.

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