2022 Best Value Liberal Arts Schools for a Master’s in Illinois

When pursuing a degree in today’s world, students have many different options to choose from. One of our goals at College Factual is to give you as much information as we can - such as our “Best Value Liberal Arts Schools for a Master’s in Illinois” ranking - to help you make that decision.

With 559,661 degrees handed out in 2019-2020, liberal arts general studies is the 1st most popular major in the United States. In 2017-2018, liberal arts general studies graduates who were awarded their degree in 2015-2017, earned an average of $26,786 and had an average of $16,538 in loans still to pay off.

Across Illinois, there were 27,169 liberal arts general studies graduates with average earnings and debt of $26,138 and $14,095 respectively. At the master’s degree level specifically, there were 206 liberal arts general studies graduates with average earnings and debt of $57,267 and $46,814 respectively.

This year’s “Best Value Liberal Arts Schools for a Master’s in Illinois” ranking analyzed 4 colleges that offered a degree in liberal arts general studies. Not only do the schools that top this list have excellent liberal arts general studies programs, but they also cost less that 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 liberal arts general studies program at the school. See our ranking methodology to learn more.

More Ways to Rank Liberal Arts General Studies Schools

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 Liberal Arts Schools for a Master’s in Illinois” list to help you make the college 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 Liberal Arts Schools for a Master’s in Illinois

The colleges and universities below are the best for illinois master’s degree liberal arts students.

Top 4 Best Value Master’s Degree Colleges for Liberal Arts General Studies in Illinois

#1

North Central College

Naperville, Illinois

#3 in overall quality

$15,822 Avg Grad Tuition & Fees

$40,697 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend North Central College. It ranked #1 on our 2022 Best Value Liberal Arts Schools for a Master’s in Illinois list. Located in Naperville, Illinois, this small private not-for-profit school awarded 30 degrees to qualified masters’s liberal arts students in 2019-2020.

North Central did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #3 on our “Best Liberal Arts General Studies Master’s Degree Schools in Illinois” list. Average graduate tuition and fees at North Central College are $15,822, but some majors have different tuition rates.

Read more about Liberal Arts General Studies at North Central

#2

DePaul University

Chicago, Illinois

#2 in overall quality

$19,760 Avg Grad Tuition & Fees

$63,005 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend DePaul University. It ranked #2 on our 2022 Best Value Liberal Arts Schools for a Master’s in Illinois list. DePaul University is a large private not-for-profit school situated in Chicago, Illinois. It awarded 19 masters’s liberal arts degrees in 2019-2020.

DePaul also took the #2 spot in our “Best Liberal Arts General Studies Master’s Degree Schools in Illinois” ranking. Average graduate tuition and fees at DePaul University are $19,760, but you may pay more or less depending on your major.

Read full report on Liberal Arts General Studies at DePaul

#3

University of Illinois at Springfield

Springfield, Illinois

#4 in overall quality

$16,757 Avg Grad Tuition & Fees

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of Illinois at Springfield. It ranked #3 on our 2022 Best Value Liberal Arts Schools for a Master’s in Illinois list. University of Illinois at Springfield is a public institution located in Springfield, Illinois. The school has a small population, and it awarded 3 masters’s degrees in 2019-2020.

UIS did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #4 on our “Best Liberal Arts General Studies Master’s Degree Schools in Illinois” list. Although you might pay more or less depending on your area of study, average graduate tuition and fees at UIS are $16,757.

Read more about Liberal Arts General Studies at UIS

#4

University of Chicago

Chicago, Illinois

#1 in overall quality

$61,548 Avg Grad Tuition & Fees

$36,848 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of Chicago. It ranked #4 on our 2022 Best Value Liberal Arts Schools for a Master’s in Illinois list. University of Chicago is a fairly large school located in Chicago, Illinois that handed out 147 masters’s liberal arts degrees in 2019-2020.

UChicago did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #1 on our “Best Liberal Arts General Studies Master’s Degree Schools in Illinois” list. Average graduate tuition and fees at UChicago are $61,548, but you may pay more or less depending on your major.

Full UChicago Liberal Arts General Studies Report

• Best Value Master’s Degree Colleges for Liberal Arts General Studies in the Great Lakes Region
• Best Value Master’s Degree Colleges for Liberal Arts General Studies

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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