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2022 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Creative Writing in Illinois

7 Ranked Colleges
161 Degrees Awarded
$28,400 Avg Net Price*
Best Value Creative Writing Schools for a Bachelor's in Illinois

With all of the options students have for higher education today, it can be tough to choose which direction to take. College Factual was founded, in part, to help students make the decision as to what would be the best school for them. Our “Best Value Creative Writing Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois” ranking is part of that endeavor.

Creative Writing is the 118th most popular major in the country with 6,586 degrees awarded in 2019-2020.

Across Illinois, there were 242 creative writing graduates with average earnings and debt of $0 and $0 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 161 creative writing graduates with average earnings and debt of $38,319 and $24,183 respectively.

For this year’s “Best Value Creative Writing Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois” ranking, we looked at 7 colleges that offer a degree in creative writing. Not only do the schools that top this list have excellent creative writing 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 creative writing program at the school and the cost to attend the school once aid has been awarded. Check out our ranking methodology for more information.

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 Creative Writing Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois” 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. Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.

Best Value Creative Writing Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois

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

Top 7 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Creative Writing in Illinois

#1

Columbia College Chicago

Chicago, Illinois
#6 in overall quality

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Columbia College Chicago. It ranked #1 on our 2022 Best Value Creative Writing Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois list. Columbia is a medium-sized school located in Chicago, Illinois that handed out 50 bachelors’s creative writing degrees in 2019-2020.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at Columbia, the school also landed the #6 spot in our “Best Creative Writing Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” ranking. The yearly cost to attend Columbia College Chicago is $31,099 for Illinois Bachelor’s Degree Creative Writing students.

Full Columbia Creative Writing Report

#2

North Central College

Naperville, Illinois
#3 in overall quality

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend North Central College. The school came in at #2 for the Best Value Creative Writing Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois. North Central is a small school located in Naperville, Illinois that handed out 7 bachelors’s creative writing degrees in 2019-2020.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at North Central, the school also landed the #3 spot in our “Best Creative Writing Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” ranking. It costs about $24,786 for illinois bachelor’s degree creative writing students per year to attend North Central.

The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 3.9%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.

Full North Central Creative Writing Report

#3

Augustana College

Rock Island, Illinois
#4 in overall quality

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Augustana College. The school came in at #3 for the Best Value Creative Writing Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois. Augustana is located in Rock Island, Illinois and, has a small student population. In 2019-2020, this school awarded 10 bachelors’s creative writing degrees to qualified students.

Augustana did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #4 on our “Best Creative Writing Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” list. It costs about $23,874 for Illinois Bachelor’s Degree Creative Writing students per year to attend Augustana College.

With a freshman retention rate of 85%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students. 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%.

Read more about Creative Writing at Augustana

#4

Knox College

Galesburg, Illinois
#5 in overall quality

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Knox College. The school came in at #4 for the Best Value Creative Writing Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois. Knox College is a small private not-for-profit school situated in Galesburg, Illinois. It awarded 39 bachelors’s creative writing degrees in 2019-2020.

Knox did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #5 on our “Best Creative Writing Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” list. The yearly cost to attend Knox College is $22,292 for Illinois Bachelor’s Degree Creative Writing students.

Since the school has a student-to-faculty ratio of 10 to 1, those pursuing a degree will have more opportunities to interact with their professors. The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 4.8%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.

Read full report on Creative Writing at Knox

#7 in overall quality

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend School of the Art Institute of Chicago. The school came in at #5 for the Best Value Creative Writing Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois. Chicago, Illinois is the setting for this small institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out bachelors’s creative writing degrees to 12 students in 2019-2020.

In addition to being on our illinois bachelor’s degree creative writing students list, School of the Art Institute of Chicago has also earned the #7 rank in our “Best Creative Writing Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” ranking. It costs about $44,815 for illinois bachelor’s degree creative writing students per year to attend School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

The student-to-faculty ratio of 8 to 1 is a sign that students will have more opportunities to engage with their professors one-on-one.

Read full report on Creative Writing at School of the Art Institute of Chicago

#6

Northwestern University

Evanston, Illinois
#2 in overall quality

Northwestern University landed the #6 spot on the 2022 Best Value Creative Writing Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois ranking. Located in Evanston, Illinois, this large private not-for-profit school handed out 1 degrees to qualified bachelors’s creative writing students in 2019-2020.

Northwestern also took the #2 spot in our “Best Creative Writing Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” ranking. The yearly cost to attend Northwestern is $24,664 for Illinois Bachelor’s Degree Creative Writing students.

Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 97%. 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 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 Creative Writing at Northwestern University

#6

University of Chicago

Chicago, Illinois
#1 in overall quality

University of Chicago came in at #6 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Creative Writing Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois ranking. University of Chicago is located in Chicago, Illinois and, has a fairly large student population. In 2019-2020, this school awarded 25 bachelors’s creative writing degrees to qualified students.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at UChicago, the school also landed the #1 spot in our “Best Creative Writing Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for University of Chicago is $27,315 for Illinois Bachelor’s Degree Creative Writing students.

Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 100%. The student-to-faculty ratio of 5 to 1 is a sign that students will have more opportunities to engage with their professors one-on-one. The student loan default rate at the school is 0.6%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

Full University of Chicago Creative Writing 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.

Credits

  • Credit for the banner image above goes to KOKUYO.

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