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2022 Best Value ME Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Getting Aid

9 Ranked Colleges
861 Degrees Awarded
$18,700 Avg Net Price*
Best Value ME Schools for a Bachelor's in Illinois For Those Getting Aid

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 Getting Aid” ranking is one tool we have developed to help in this regard.

In 2019-2020, 47,598 people earned their degree in mechanical engineering, making the major the 20th most popular in the United States. 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.

This year’s “Best Value ME Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Getting Aid” ranking analyzed 9 colleges that offered a degree in mechanical engineering. Not only do the schools that top this list have excellent mechanical engineering programs, but they also cost less that schools of similar quality.

When determining these rankings, we looked at things such as overall quality of the mechanical engineering program at the school and the cost to attend the school once aid has been awarded. See our ranking methodology to learn more.

More Ways to Rank Mechanical Engineering Schools

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

To further help you make the college decision, we’ve developed a unique tool called College Combat that allows you to compare schools based on the factors that matter the most to you. If you’re torn between two schools, you can use it to help you see how they stack up against one another. Bookmark it so you can compare any new schools that might interest you.

Best Value ME Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Getting Aid

The colleges and universities below are the best for illinois bachelor’s degree me students with aid.

Top 9 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Mechanical Engineering in Illinois (With Aid)

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 ME Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Getting Aid list. This large school is located in Champaign, Illinois, and it awarded 179 bachelors’s ME degrees in 2019-2020.

UIUC did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #2 on our “Best Mechanical Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” list. The yearly cost to attend UIUC is $15,880 for illinois bachelor’s degree me students with aid.

The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 94%, 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 2.4%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.

Full University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Mechanical Engineering Report

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of Illinois at Chicago. It ranked #2 on our 2022 Best Value ME Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Getting Aid list. UIC is a public institution located in Chicago, Illinois. The school has a large population, and it awarded 173 bachelors’s degrees in 2019-2020.

UIC not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #5 on our “Best Mechanical Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” list. The estimated yearly cost for UIC is $13,312 for illinois bachelor’s degree me students with aid.

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%.

Read more about Mechanical Engineering at University of Illinois at Chicago

#3

Northern Illinois University

Dekalb, Illinois

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Northern Illinois University. It ranked #3 on our 2022 Best Value ME Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Getting Aid list. Northern Illinois University is a public institution located in Dekalb, Illinois. The school has a fairly large population, and it awarded 123 bachelors’s degrees in 2019-2020.

NIU did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #6 on our “Best Mechanical Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” list. The yearly cost to attend NIU is $18,259 for Illinois Bachelor’s Degree ME students with aid.

Full Northern Illinois University Mechanical Engineering Report

Out of the 9 schools in the Best Value ME Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Getting Aid that were part of this year’s ranking, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville landed the #4 spot on the list. Southern Illinois University Edwardsville is a fairly large public school situated in Edwardsville, Illinois. It awarded 82 bachelors’s ME degrees in 2019-2020.

SIUE also made our “Best Mechanical Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” list, coming in at #8. The yearly cost to attend Southern Illinois University Edwardsville is $14,423 for Illinois Bachelor’s Degree ME students with aid.

Read full report on Mechanical Engineering at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville

Out of the 9 schools in the Best Value ME Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Getting Aid that were part of this year’s ranking, Southern Illinois University Carbondale landed the #5 spot on the list. SIUC is a public institution located in Carbondale, Illinois. The school has a fairly large population, and it awarded 56 bachelors’s degrees in 2019-2020.

SIUC did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #7 on our “Best Mechanical Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” list. It costs about $16,945 for Illinois Bachelor’s Degree ME students with aid per year to attend SIUC.

Read full report on Mechanical Engineering at Southern Illinois University Carbondale

#6

Northwestern University

Evanston, Illinois

With a ranking of #6, Northwestern University did quite well on the 2022 Best Value ME Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Getting Aid list. Located in Evanston, Illinois, this large private not-for-profit school handed out 67 degrees to qualified bachelors’s ME students in 2019-2020.

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

The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 0.8%, 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 97%. 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.

Read full report on Mechanical Engineering at Northwestern

#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 Getting Aid ranking. Western Illinois University is a public institution located in Macomb, Illinois. The school has a medium-sized population, and it awarded 14 bachelors’s degrees 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 Western Illinois University is $16,210 for Illinois Bachelor’s Degree ME students with aid.

Full WIU Mechanical Engineering Report

#8

Bradley University

Peoria, Illinois

Bradley University did quite well in the 2022 Best Value ME Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Getting Aid ranking, coming in at #8. Located in Peoria, Illinois, this medium-sized private not-for-profit school awarded 73 diplomas to qualified bachelors’s ME students in 2019-2020.

Bradley also took the #3 spot in our “Best Mechanical Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” ranking. The yearly cost to attend Bradley University is $25,634 for Illinois Bachelor’s Degree ME students with aid.

The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 2.5%, 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 86%.

Read more about Mechanical Engineering at Bradley University

Illinois Institute of Technology came in at #9 in this year’s edition of the Best Value ME Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Getting Aid ranking. Illinois Institute of Technology is a medium-sized private not-for-profit school situated in Chicago, Illinois. It awarded 91 bachelors’s ME degrees in 2019-2020.

Illinois Tech also took the #4 spot in our “Best Mechanical Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for Illinois Tech is $22,831 for illinois bachelor’s degree me students with aid.

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%. 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-to-faculty ratio of 10 to 1 is a sign that students will have more opportunities to engage with their professors one-on-one.

Full Illinois Institute of Technology 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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