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2022 Best Value ME Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois

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

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 ME Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois” 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.

This year’s “Best Value ME Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois” ranking analyzed 9 colleges that offered a degree in mechanical engineering. The schools that top this list are recognized because they have great mechanical engineering programs and 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” 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. 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

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

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

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 list. Champaign, Illinois is the setting for this large institution of higher learning. The public school handed out bachelors’s ME degrees to 179 students 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 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is $15,880 for Illinois Bachelor’s Degree ME 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%. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 94%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.

Full UIUC Mechanical Engineering Report

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. It ranked #2 on our 2022 Best Value ME Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois list. This fairly large school is located in Edwardsville, Illinois, and it awarded 82 bachelors’s ME degrees in 2019-2020.

SIUE not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #8 on our “Best Mechanical Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” list. It costs about $14,423 for illinois bachelor’s degree me students per year to attend SIUE.

Read more about Mechanical Engineering at SIUE

Out of the 9 schools in the Best Value ME 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. Located in Chicago, Illinois, this large public school awarded 173 degrees to qualified bachelors’s ME students in 2019-2020.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at UIC, the school also landed the #5 spot in our “Best Mechanical Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” ranking. It costs about $13,312 for Illinois Bachelor’s Degree ME students per year to attend University of Illinois at Chicago.

The student loan default rate at the school is 3.4%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

Full UIC Mechanical Engineering Report

#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. NIU 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.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at NIU, the school also landed the #6 spot in our “Best Mechanical Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” ranking. It costs about $18,259 for Illinois Bachelor’s Degree ME students per year to attend Northern Illinois University.

Read more about Mechanical Engineering at NIU

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Southern Illinois University Carbondale. It ranked #5 on our 2022 Best Value ME Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois list. SIUC is a fairly large school located in Carbondale, Illinois that handed out 56 bachelors’s ME degrees in 2019-2020.

SIUC also made our “Best Mechanical Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” list, coming in at #7. The estimated yearly cost for Southern Illinois University Carbondale is $16,945 for illinois bachelor’s degree me students.

Read full report on Mechanical Engineering at SIUC

#6

Western Illinois University

Macomb, Illinois
#9 in overall quality

Western Illinois University came in at #6 in this year’s edition of the Best Value ME Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois ranking. Located in Macomb, Illinois, this medium-sized public school awarded 14 degrees to qualified bachelors’s ME students in 2019-2020.

WIU also made our “Best Mechanical Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” list, coming in at #9. The yearly cost to attend WIU is $16,210 for illinois bachelor’s degree me students.

Full Western Illinois University Mechanical Engineering Report

#7

Bradley University

Peoria, Illinois

Bradley University ranked #7 on this year’s Best Value ME Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois list. Located in Peoria, Illinois, this medium-sized private not-for-profit school awarded 73 degrees to qualified bachelors’s ME students in 2019-2020.

Bradley also made our “Best Mechanical Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” list, coming in at #3. The estimated yearly cost for Bradley University is $25,634 for illinois bachelor’s degree me students.

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%. With a freshman retention rate of 86%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students.

Read full report on Mechanical Engineering at Bradley

Illinois Institute of Technology landed the #8 spot on the 2022 Best Value ME Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois ranking. Illinois Tech is a private not-for-profit institution located in Chicago, Illinois. The school has a medium-sized population, and it awarded 91 bachelors’s degrees in 2019-2020.

Illinois Tech not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #4 on our “Best Mechanical Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” list. It costs about $22,831 for Illinois Bachelor’s Degree ME students per year to attend Illinois Institute of Technology.

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 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. Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 87%.

Full Illinois Institute of Technology Mechanical Engineering Report

#9

Northwestern University

Evanston, Illinois

Northwestern University came in at #9 in this year’s edition of the Best Value ME Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois ranking. Northwestern University is located in Evanston, Illinois and, has a large student population. In 2019-2020, this school awarded 67 bachelors’s ME degrees to qualified students.

In addition to being on our illinois bachelor’s degree me students list, Northwestern has also earned the #1 rank in our “Best Mechanical Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” ranking. It costs about $24,664 for Illinois Bachelor’s Degree ME students per year to attend Northwestern University.

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%. 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.

Read full report on Mechanical Engineering at Northwestern University

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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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