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2023 Best Value Religion Schools in the Great Lakes Region

10 Ranked Colleges
580 Degrees Awarded
$22,100 Avg Net Price*
Best Value Religion Schools in the Great Lakes Region

Students have lots of options to chooose from today when trying to decide which college to attend. 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 Religion Schools in the Great Lakes Region” ranking is part of that endeavor.

Religious Studies is the 90th most popular major in the country with 9,470 degrees awarded in 2020-2021. In 2019-2020, religious studies graduates who were awarded their degree in 2017-2019, earned an average of $34,289 and had an average of $24,431 in loans still to pay off.

Across the Great Lakes region, there were 580 religious studies graduates with average earnings and debt of $34,601 and $29,506 respectively.

This year’s “Best Value Religion Schools in the Great Lakes Region” ranking looked at 10 colleges that offer degrees in a bachelor’s in religious studies. The schools that top this list are recognized because they have great religious studies programs and cost less that schools of similar quality.

Some of the factors we look at when determining these rankings are overall quality of the religious studies program at the school and the cost of the school after aid is awarded among other things. See our ranking methodology to learn more.

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The religion school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we’ve developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of “Best Value Religion Schools in the Great Lakes Region”.

In addition to College Factual’s rankings, you may want to take a look at College Combat, our unique tool that lets you pit your favorite schools head-to-head and compare how they rate on factors that most interest you. Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.

Best Value Religion Schools in the Great Lakes Region

The following schools top our list of the Best Best Value Religion Schools in the Great Lakes Region.

Top 10 Best Value Colleges for Religious Studies in the Great Lakes Region

1

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Trinity International University - Illinois. The school came in at #1 for the Best Value Religion Schools in the Great Lakes Region. TIU Illinois is a private not-for-profit institution located in Deerfield, Illinois. The school has a small population, and it awarded 6 ’s degrees in 2020-2021.

TIU Illinois not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #7 on our “Best Religious Studies Schools in the Great Lakes Region” list. It costs about $21,200 for great lakes region religion students per year to attend TIU Illinois.

Since the school has a undergrad student-to-faculty ratio of 8 to 1, those pursuing a degree will have more opportunities to interact with their professors.

Read more about Religious Studies at TIU Illinois

2

Out of the 10 schools in the Best Value Religion Schools in the Great Lakes Region that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee landed the #2 spot on the list. UWM is located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and, has a large student population. In 2020-2021, this school awarded 6 ’s religion degrees to qualified students.

UWM did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #8 on our “Best Religious Studies Schools in the Great Lakes Region” list. The estimated yearly cost for UWM is $17,486 for Great Lakes Region Religion students.

Read full report on Religious Studies at University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee

3

Out of the 10 schools in the Best Value Religion Schools in the Great Lakes Region that were part of this year’s ranking, Grand Valley State University landed the #3 spot on the list. GVSU is a large school located in Allendale, Michigan that handed out 3 ’s religion degrees in 2020-2021.

GVSU not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #10 on our “Best Religious Studies Schools in the Great Lakes Region” list. The yearly cost to attend GVSU is $17,356 for great lakes region religion students.

The low undergrad student loan default rate of 2.7% 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%.

Read full report on Religious Studies at GVSU

4

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of Wisconsin - Madison. The school came in at #4 for the Best Value Religion Schools in the Great Lakes Region. Madison, Wisconsin is the setting for this large institution of higher learning. The public school handed out ’s religion degrees to 34 students in 2020-2021.

UW - Madison not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #1 on our “Best Religious Studies Schools in the Great Lakes Region” list. It costs about $17,234 for Great Lakes Region Religion students per year to attend University of Wisconsin - Madison.

With a freshman retention rate of 95%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its undergraduate students. The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 0.9%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.

Read full report on Religious Studies at University of Wisconsin - Madison

5

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Ohio State University - Main Campus. It ranked #5 on our 2023 Best Value Religion Schools in the Great Lakes Region list. This large school is located in Columbus, Ohio, and it awarded 4 ’s religion degrees in 2020-2021.

Ohio State also took the #5 spot in our “Best Religious Studies Schools in the Great Lakes Region” ranking. It costs about $16,845 for great lakes region religion students per year to attend Ohio State University - Main Campus.

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 low undergrad student loan default rate of 3.6% 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%.

Read full report on Religious Studies at Ohio State University - Main Campus

6

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign ranked #6 on this year’s Best Value Religion Schools in the Great Lakes Region list. This large school is located in Champaign, Illinois, and it awarded 8 ’s religion degrees in 2020-2021.

UIUC also made our “Best Religious Studies Schools in the Great Lakes Region” list, coming in at #6. It costs about $14,321 for Great Lakes Region Religion students per year to attend University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 94%. The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 2.3%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.

Read more about Religious Studies at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

7
DePaul crest
DePaul University
Chicago, Illinois

DePaul University came in at #7 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Religion Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking. Located in Chicago, Illinois, this large private not-for-profit school handed out 2 diplomas to qualified ’s religion students in 2020-2021.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at DePaul, the school also landed the #9 spot in our “Best Religious Studies Schools in the Great Lakes Region” ranking. The yearly cost to attend DePaul is $31,174 for Great Lakes Region Religion students.

The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is 3.7%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

Read more about Religious Studies at DePaul

8
DePauw crest
DePauw University
Greencastle, Indiana

DePauw University came in at #8 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Religion Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking. This small school is located in Greencastle, Indiana, and it awarded 5 ’s religion degrees in 2020-2021.

DePauw not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #3 on our “Best Religious Studies Schools in the Great Lakes Region” list. It costs about $25,587 for Great Lakes Region Religion students per year to attend DePauw University.

Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 89%. The undergraduate 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. The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 1.0%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.

Full DePauw University Religious Studies Report

9
Notre Dame crest
University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame, Indiana

University of Notre Dame ranked #9 on this year’s Best Value Religion Schools in the Great Lakes Region list. Notre Dame, Indiana is the setting for this fairly large institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out ’s religion degrees to 3 students in 2020-2021.

In addition to being on our great lakes region religion students list, Notre Dame has also earned the #4 rank in our “Best Religious Studies Schools in the Great Lakes Region” ranking. It costs about $31,101 for great lakes region religion students per year to attend University of Notre Dame.

With a freshman retention rate of 97%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its undergraduate students. The impressive undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio of 9 to 1 means that students may have more opportunities to work more closely with their professors than they would at other schools. The low undergrad student loan default rate of 0.7% 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%.

Full Notre Dame Religious Studies Report

10
UChicago crest
University of Chicago
Chicago, Illinois

University of Chicago came in at #10 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Religion Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking. University of Chicago is located in Chicago, Illinois and, has a fairly large student population. In 2020-2021, this school awarded 2 ’s religion degrees to qualified students.

UChicago did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #2 on our “Best Religious Studies Schools in the Great Lakes Region” list. The estimated yearly cost for University of Chicago is $28,517 for great lakes region religion students.

Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 100%. The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 1.0%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. With a undergrad student-to-faculty ratio of 5 to 1, it’s easy to see that the school is committed to helping their undergraduates succeed.

Read more about Religious Studies at University of Chicago

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