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2022 Best Value ME Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Making $48-$75k

9 Ranked Colleges
861 Degrees Awarded
$62,288 Avg Salary
Best Value ME Schools for a Bachelor's in Illinois For Those Making $48-$75k

When it comes to choosing a college, students have a lot of options - but not all of them are good. 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 ME Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Making $48-$75k” ranking is one tool we have developed to help in this regard.

Mechanical Engineering is the 20th most popular major in the country with 47,598 degrees awarded in 2019-2020. In 2017-2018, mechanical engineering graduates who were awarded their degree in 2015-2017, earned an average of $64,495 and had an average of $23,104 in loans still to pay off.

Across Illinois, there were 1,232 mechanical engineering graduates with average earnings and debt of $62,288 and $21,821 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 861 mechanical engineering graduates with average earnings and debt of $38,319 and $24,183 respectively.

For this year’s “Best Value ME Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Making $48-$75k” ranking, we looked at 9 colleges that offer a degree in mechanical engineering. This ranking identifies schools with high-quality mechanical engineering programs that also have a lower cost than 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 mechanical engineering program at the school. 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 ME Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Making $48-$75k” list to help you make the college decision.

In addition to our rankings, you can take two colleges and compare them based on the criteria that matters most to you in our unique tool, College Combat. When you have some time, check it out - you may want to bookmark the link so you don’t forget it.

Best Value ME Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Making $48-$75k

The following schools top our list of the Best Best Value ME Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Making $48-$75k.

Top 9 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Mechanical Engineering (Income $48-$75k) in Illinois

#1

Northwestern University

Evanston, Illinois

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Northwestern University. It ranked #1 on our 2022 Best Value ME Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Making $48-$75k list. This large school is located in Evanston, Illinois, and it awarded 67 bachelors’s ME 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 Mechanical Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” ranking. The yearly cost to attend Northwestern is $6,452 for illinois bachelor’s degree me students whose families make $48-$75k.

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

Out of the 9 schools in the Best Value ME Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Making $48-$75k that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign landed the #2 spot on the list. Located in Champaign, Illinois, this large public school awarded 179 degrees to qualified bachelors’s ME students in 2019-2020.

In addition to being on our illinois bachelor’s degree me students whose families make $48-$75k list, UIUC has also earned the #2 rank in our “Best Mechanical Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” ranking. The yearly cost to attend UIUC is $13,351 for illinois bachelor’s degree me students whose families make $48-$75k.

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

Read full report on Mechanical Engineering at UIUC

Out of the 9 schools in the Best Value ME Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Making $48-$75k that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Illinois at Chicago landed the #3 spot on the list. This large school is located in Chicago, Illinois, and it awarded 173 bachelors’s ME degrees in 2019-2020.

UIC also took the #5 spot in our “Best Mechanical Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for UIC is $13,683 for illinois bachelor’s degree me students whose families make $48-$75k.

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%.

Read full report on Mechanical Engineering at University of Illinois at Chicago

#4

Northern Illinois University

Dekalb, Illinois

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Northern Illinois University. The school came in at #4 for the Best Value ME Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Making $48-$75k. Northern Illinois University is located in Dekalb, Illinois and, has a fairly large student population. In 2019-2020, this school awarded 123 bachelors’s ME degrees to qualified students.

NIU also made our “Best Mechanical Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” list, coming in at #6. The yearly cost to attend Northern Illinois University is $18,346 for illinois bachelor’s degree me students whose families make $48-$75k.

Read more about Mechanical Engineering at Northern Illinois University

Out of the 9 schools in the Best Value ME Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Making $48-$75k that were part of this year’s ranking, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville landed the #5 spot on the list. SIUE is located in Edwardsville, Illinois and, has a fairly large student population. In 2019-2020, this school awarded 82 bachelors’s ME degrees to qualified students.

SIUE also took the #8 spot in our “Best Mechanical Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” ranking. It costs about $13,705 for Illinois Bachelor’s Degree ME students whose families make $48-$75k per year to attend Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.

Read full report on Mechanical Engineering at SIUE

Southern Illinois University Carbondale ranked #6 on this year’s Best Value ME Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Making $48-$75k list. Southern Illinois University Carbondale is a fairly large school located in Carbondale, Illinois that handed out 56 bachelors’s ME degrees in 2019-2020.

In addition to being on our illinois bachelor’s degree me students whose families make $48-$75k list, SIUC has also earned the #7 rank in our “Best Mechanical Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” ranking. It costs about $14,985 for illinois bachelor’s degree me students whose families make $48-$75k per year to attend SIUC.

Full Southern Illinois University Carbondale Mechanical Engineering Report

#7

Western Illinois University

Macomb, Illinois
#9 in overall quality

Western Illinois University came in at #7 in this year’s edition of the Best Value ME Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Making $48-$75k ranking. Macomb, Illinois is the setting for this medium-sized institution of higher learning. The public school handed out bachelors’s ME degrees to 14 students in 2019-2020.

WIU did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #9 on our “Best Mechanical Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” list. The estimated yearly cost for WIU is $15,912 for illinois bachelor’s degree me students whose families make $48-$75k.

Read more about Mechanical Engineering at Western Illinois University

#8

Bradley University

Peoria, Illinois

Bradley University came in at #8 in this year’s edition of the Best Value ME Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Making $48-$75k ranking. Peoria, Illinois is the setting for this medium-sized institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out bachelors’s ME degrees to 73 students in 2019-2020.

Bradley also made our “Best Mechanical Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” list, coming in at #3. The yearly cost to attend Bradley University is $22,865 for Illinois Bachelor’s Degree ME students whose families make $48-$75k.

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 2.5% 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%.

Read more about Mechanical Engineering at Bradley

With a ranking of #9, Illinois Institute of Technology did quite well on the 2022 Best Value ME Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Making $48-$75k list. Chicago, Illinois is the setting for this medium-sized institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out bachelors’s ME degrees to 91 students in 2019-2020.

Illinois Tech did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #4 on our “Best Mechanical Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” list. The estimated yearly cost for Illinois Institute of Technology is $22,542 for illinois bachelor’s degree me students whose families make $48-$75k.

The impressive student-to-faculty ratio of 10 to 1 means that students may have more opportunities to work more closely with their professors than they would at other schools. 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 school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 2.9%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.

Read full report on Mechanical Engineering at Illinois Tech

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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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