2023 Best Astronomy Master’s Degree Colleges for Veterans in Illinois

With all of the options veterans have for higher education today, it can be tough to choose which direction to take. One of our goals at College Factual is to give you as much information as we can - such as our “Most Veteran Friendly in Illinois for Astronomical Sciences for a Master’s” ranking - to help you make that decision.

In 2020-2021, 765 people earned their degree in astronomy, making the major the 479th most popular in the United States.

Across Illinois, there were 63 astronomy graduates with average earnings and debt of $0 and $0 respectively.

This year’s “Most Veteran Friendly in Illinois for Astronomical Sciences for a Master’s” ranking looked at 2 colleges that offer degrees in a bachelor’s in astronomy. This ranking identifies schools with high-quality astronomy programs as well as strong veteran support.

To come up with these rankings, we looked at factors such as veteran satisfaction, veteran affordability, and overall quality of the astronomy program at the school. Check out our ranking methodology for more information.

More Ways to Rank Astronomy Schools

Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we’ve developed a number of rankings, including this “Most Veteran Friendly in Illinois for Astronomical Sciences for a Master’s” list, to help you choose the best school for you.

One of our other unique offerings is College Combat. This tool lets you build your own customized comparisons utilizing the factors that are most important to you. Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.

Most Veteran Friendly in Illinois for Astronomical Sciences for a Master’s

The following schools top our list of the Best “Most Veteran Friendly in Illinois for Astronomical Sciences for a Master’s”.

Top 2 Best Astronomy Master’s Degree Colleges for Veterans in Illinois

1

University of Chicago
Chicago, Illinois

241 GI Bill® Students**

#2 in overall quality

YES Student Veterans Organization

Out of the 2 schools in the Most Veteran Friendly in Illinois for Astronomical Sciences for a Master’s that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Chicago landed the #1 spot on the list. This fairly large school is located in Chicago, Illinois, and it awarded 3 masters’s astronomical sciences degrees in 2020-2021.

In addition to being on our illinois master’s degree vets studying astronomical sciences list, UChicago has also earned the #2 rank in our “Best Astronomy Master’s Degree Schools in Illinois” ranking.Among the 17,834 students enrolled at UChicago, 241 are GI Bill® students, according to our most recent data. Out of that number, 113 were Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients. The average tuition and fees award for the Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients was $18,948. In addition to receiving other benefits, 58 students qualified for the Yellow Ribbon Program.

The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 100%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year. The impressive undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio of 5 to 1 means that students may have more opportunities to work more closely with their professors than they would at other schools. The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is [DEFAULT_RATE_STRING]%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

Full University of Chicago Veteran Student Life Report

2

Northwestern University
Evanston, Illinois

1 GI Bill® Students**

#1 in overall quality

YES Student Veterans Organization

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Northwestern University. The school came in at #2 for the Most Veteran Friendly in Illinois for Astronomical Sciences for a Master’s. Northwestern is a large school located in Evanston, Illinois that handed out 8 masters’s astronomical sciences degrees in 2020-2021.

Northwestern also made our “Best Astronomy Master’s Degree Schools in Illinois” list, coming in at #1.Our most recent data shows that 1 of the 22,603 students enrolled at Northwestern University were GI Bill® students, of which 1 were Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients. The average Post-9/11 GI Bill® award for tuition and fees at the school was $399. In addition to receiving other benefits, 0 students received scholarships through the Yellow Ribbon Program.

The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is [DEFAULT_RATE_STRING]%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%. The undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio of 6 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 97%.

[Read full report on veteran student life at Northwestern]](/colleges/northwestern-university/student-life/veterans/)

• Best Astronomy Master’s Degree Colleges for Veterans in the Great Lakes Region
• Best Astronomy Master’s Degree Colleges for Veterans

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).
• Veteran-specific data can be found at the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs.
• 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

• *Avg Salary and Avg 4-Year Grad Rate are for the top schools only.
• **GI Bill® student total includes all chapters of the GI Bill® program (e.g., Post-9/11, Montgomery GI Bill, Reserve Education Assistance Program, and Veteran Readiness and Employment)
• 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.