2022 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Geography in Illinois
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 Geography Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois” ranking is part of that endeavor.
In 2019-2020, 5,476 people earned their degree in geography, making the major the 144th most popular in the United States.
Across Illinois, there were 182 geography graduates with average earnings and debt of $0 and $0 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 145 geography graduates with average earnings and debt of $38,319 and $24,183 respectively.
This year’s “Best Value Geography Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois” ranking analyzed 11 colleges that offered a degree in geography. Not only do the schools that top this list have excellent geography 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 geography program at the school and the cost to attend the school once aid has been awarded. See our ranking methodology to learn more.
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Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we’ve developed the “Best Value Geography Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois” ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.
We’ve created a tool called College Combat that lets you create your own customized comparisons based on the factors that matter the most to you. When you have some time, check it out - you may want to bookmark the link so you don’t forget it.
Best Value Geography Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois
The following schools top our list of the Best Best Value Geography Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois.
Top 11 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Geography in Illinois
Out of the 11 schools in the Best Value Geography Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois that were part of this year’s ranking, Illinois State University landed the #1 spot on the list. Illinois State is a public institution located in Normal, Illinois. The school has a large population, and it awarded 31 bachelors’s degrees in 2019-2020.
Illinois State also took the #4 spot in our “Best Geography Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” ranking. The yearly cost to attend Illinois State University is $20,895 for illinois bachelor’s degree geography students.
The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 4.4%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.
You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. It ranked #2 on our 2022 Best Value Geography Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois list. Champaign, Illinois is the setting for this large institution of higher learning. The public school handed out bachelors’s geography degrees to 9 students in 2019-2020.
UIUC did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #3 on our “Best Geography Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” list. It costs about $15,880 for Illinois Bachelor’s Degree Geography students per year to attend UIUC.
The student loan default rate at the school is 2.4%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%. With a freshman retention rate of 94%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students.
You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. The school came in at #3 for the Best Value Geography Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois. Southern Illinois University Edwardsville is located in Edwardsville, Illinois and, has a fairly large student population. In 2019-2020, this school awarded 32 bachelors’s geography degrees to qualified students.
SIUE did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #6 on our “Best Geography Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” list. The yearly cost to attend Southern Illinois University Edwardsville is $14,423 for Illinois Bachelor’s Degree Geography students.
You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Eastern Illinois University. The school came in at #4 for the Best Value Geography Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois. Eastern Illinois University is a public institution located in Charleston, Illinois. The school has a medium-sized population, and it awarded 14 bachelors’s degrees in 2019-2020.
In addition to being on our illinois bachelor’s degree geography students list, EIU has also earned the #9 rank in our “Best Geography Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” ranking. It costs about $14,607 for illinois bachelor’s degree geography students per year to attend Eastern Illinois University.
You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Northern Illinois University. The school came in at #5 for the Best Value Geography Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois. Located in Dekalb, Illinois, this fairly large public school handed out 13 diplomas to qualified bachelors’s geography students in 2019-2020.
As a testament to the quality of education offered at NIU, the school also landed the #7 spot in our “Best Geography Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” ranking. It costs about $18,259 for illinois bachelor’s degree geography students per year to attend NIU.
Northeastern Illinois University came in at #6 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Geography Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois ranking. Northeastern Illinois University is a medium-sized school located in Chicago, Illinois that handed out 8 bachelors’s geography degrees in 2019-2020.
Northeastern Illinois University also made our “Best Geography Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” list, coming in at #10. The estimated yearly cost for Northeastern Illinois University is $15,843 for Illinois Bachelor’s Degree Geography students.
Read more about Geography at Northeastern Illinois University
Elmhurst University did quite well in the 2022 Best Value Geography Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois ranking, coming in at #7. Elmhurst University is a small private not-for-profit school situated in Elmhurst, Illinois. It awarded 2 bachelors’s geography degrees in 2019-2020.
Elmhurst not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #8 on our “Best Geography Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” list. The yearly cost to attend Elmhurst is $21,485 for illinois bachelor’s degree geography students.
The student loan default rate at the school is 3.0%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.
Augustana College ranked #8 on this year’s Best Value Geography Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois list. Augustana College is a small school located in Rock Island, Illinois that handed out 17 bachelors’s geography degrees in 2019-2020.
In addition to being on our illinois bachelor’s degree geography students list, Augustana has also earned the #5 rank in our “Best Geography Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” ranking. It costs about $23,874 for Illinois Bachelor’s Degree Geography students per year to attend Augustana College.
The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 3.4%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. With a freshman retention rate of 85%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students.
DePaul University did quite well in the 2022 Best Value Geography Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois ranking, coming in at #9. This large school is located in Chicago, Illinois, and it awarded 14 bachelors’s geography degrees in 2019-2020.
In addition to being on our illinois bachelor’s degree geography students list, DePaul has also earned the #11 rank in our “Best Geography Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” ranking. It costs about $30,090 for illinois bachelor’s degree geography students per year to attend DePaul.
The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 4.5%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.
Northwestern University came in at #10 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Geography Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois ranking. Northwestern is a large school located in Evanston, Illinois that handed out 1 bachelors’s geography degrees in 2019-2020.
Northwestern not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #2 on our “Best Geography Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” list. The estimated yearly cost for Northwestern University is $24,664 for Illinois Bachelor’s Degree Geography students.
The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 0.8%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. Since the school has a student-to-faculty ratio of 6 to 1, those pursuing a degree will have more opportunities to interact with their professors. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 97%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.
University of Chicago landed the #10 spot on the 2022 Best Value Geography Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois ranking. This fairly large school is located in Chicago, Illinois, and it awarded 4 bachelors’s geography degrees in 2019-2020.
UChicago also made our “Best Geography Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” list, coming in at #1. The estimated yearly cost for UChicago is $27,315 for Illinois Bachelor’s Degree Geography students.
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%. 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 school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 100%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.
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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 Couleur.
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