2022 Best Value Colleges for Legal Studies (Income $0-$30k) in Illinois

It’s not easy to decide which college to attend when there so many options available for students. 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 Legal Studies Schools in Illinois For Those Making $0-$30k” ranking is part of that endeavor.

Legal Studies is the 225th most popular major in the country with 3,546 degrees awarded in 2019-2020.

Across Illinois, there were 45 legal studies graduates with average earnings and debt of $0 and $0 respectively.

For this year’s “Best Value Legal Studies Schools in Illinois For Those Making $0-$30k” ranking, we looked at 2 colleges that offer a degree in legal studies. Not only do the schools that top this list have excellent legal studies programs, but they also cost less that schools of similar quality.

Some of the factors we look at when determining these rankings are overall quality of the legal studies program at the school and the cost of the school after aid is awarded among other things. For more information, check out our ranking methodology.

More Ways to Rank Legal Studies Schools

Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we’ve developed the “Best Value Legal Studies Schools in Illinois For Those Making $0-$30k” 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. Test it out by comparing your favorite schools against others you are considering, or bookmark the tool so you can experiment with it later.

Best Value Legal Studies Schools in Illinois For Those Making $0-$30k

The colleges and universities below are the best for illinois legal studies students whose families make $0-$30k.

Top 2 Best Value Colleges for Legal Studies (Income $0-$30k) in Illinois

#1

Northwestern University

Evanston, Illinois

#1 in overall quality

$1,866 Average Net Price

$68,272 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Northwestern University. The school came in at #1 for the Best Value Legal Studies Schools in Illinois For Those Making $0-$30k. Evanston, Illinois is the setting for this large institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out ’s legal studies degrees to 21 students in 2019-2020.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at Northwestern, the school also landed the #1 spot in our “Best Legal Studies Schools in Illinois” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for Northwestern University is $1,866 for Illinois Legal Studies students whose families make $0-$30k.

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

Read more about Legal Studies at Northwestern

#2

University of Illinois at Springfield

Springfield, Illinois

#2 in overall quality

$9,771 Average Net Price

$46,200 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of Illinois at Springfield. The school came in at #2 for the Best Value Legal Studies Schools in Illinois For Those Making $0-$30k. UIS is a public institution located in Springfield, Illinois. The school has a small population, and it awarded 16 ’s degrees in 2019-2020.

UIS also made our “Best Legal Studies Schools in Illinois” list, coming in at #2. The yearly cost to attend University of Illinois at Springfield is $9,771 for Illinois Legal Studies students whose families make $0-$30k.

Full UIS Legal Studies Report

• Best Value Colleges for Legal Studies (Income $0-$30k) in the Great Lakes Region
• Best Value Colleges for Legal Studies (Income $0-$30k)

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

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