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2022 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Public Policy (Income $48-$75k) in Illinois

5 Ranked Colleges
227 Degrees Awarded
$43,450 Avg Salary
Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor's in Illinois For Those Making $48-$75k

When it comes to choosing a college, students have a lot of options - but not all of them are good. Our mission at College Factual is to arm you with as much information as we can to help you make that decision. Our “Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Making $48-$75k” ranking is one tool we have developed to help in this regard.

In 2019-2020, 6,199 people earned their degree in public policy, making the major the 116th most popular in the United States. In 2017-2018, public policy graduates who were awarded their degree in 2015-2017, earned an average of $52,077 and had an average of $35,743 in loans still to pay off.

Across Illinois, there were 654 public policy graduates with average earnings and debt of $51,600 and $37,312 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 227 public policy graduates with average earnings and debt of $38,319 and $24,183 respectively.

For this year’s “Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Making $48-$75k” ranking, we looked at 5 colleges that offer a degree in public policy. Not only do the schools that top this list have excellent public policy 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 public policy 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.

One Size Does Not Fit All

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 Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Making $48-$75k” list to help you make the college decision.

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. We encourage you to try it out and pit your favorite colleges and universities head to head! If you don’t have time right now, you can bookmark it for later.

Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Making $48-$75k

The colleges and universities below are the best for illinois bachelor’s degree public policy students whose families make $48-$75k.

Top 5 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Public Policy (Income $48-$75k) in Illinois

#1

University of Chicago

Chicago, Illinois

Out of the 5 schools in the Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Making $48-$75k that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Chicago landed the #1 spot on the list. University of Chicago is a private not-for-profit institution located in Chicago, Illinois. The school has a fairly large population, and it awarded 129 bachelors’s degrees in 2019-2020.

UChicago also made our “Best Public Policy Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” list, coming in at #1. The estimated yearly cost for UChicago is $7,934 for Illinois Bachelor’s Degree Public Policy students whose families make $48-$75k.

The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 0.6%, which is much lower than the national 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. Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 100%.

Read more about Public Policy at University of Chicago

#2

Northwestern University

Evanston, Illinois

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Northwestern University. It ranked #2 on our 2022 Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Making $48-$75k list. Evanston, Illinois is the setting for this large institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out bachelors’s public policy degrees to 66 students in 2019-2020.

Northwestern did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #2 on our “Best Public Policy Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” list. The estimated yearly cost for Northwestern University is $6,452 for Illinois Bachelor’s Degree Public Policy students whose families make $48-$75k.

The 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. 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%. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 97%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.

Read more about Public Policy at Northwestern

#3 in overall quality

Out of the 5 schools in the Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Making $48-$75k that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Illinois at Chicago landed the #3 spot on the list. University of Illinois at Chicago is a public institution located in Chicago, Illinois. The school has a large population, and it awarded 25 bachelors’s degrees in 2019-2020.

UIC also made our “Best Public Policy Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” list, coming in at #3. The yearly cost to attend UIC is $13,683 for illinois bachelor’s degree public policy students whose families make $48-$75k.

The low student loan default rate of 3.4% 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 Public Policy at University of Illinois at Chicago

#4

Olivet Nazarene University

Bourbonnais, Illinois
#4 in overall quality

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Olivet Nazarene University. The school came in at #4 for the Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Making $48-$75k. Olivet Nazarene University is a small school located in Bourbonnais, Illinois that handed out 2 bachelors’s public policy degrees in 2019-2020.

In addition to being on our illinois bachelor’s degree public policy students whose families make $48-$75k list, Olivet Nazarene has also earned the #4 rank in our “Best Public Policy Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” ranking. The yearly cost to attend Olivet Nazarene is $17,841 for Illinois Bachelor’s Degree Public Policy students whose families make $48-$75k.

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%.

Read full report on Public Policy at Olivet Nazarene

#5

DePaul University

Chicago, Illinois

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend DePaul University. The school came in at #5 for the Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Making $48-$75k. Chicago, Illinois is the setting for this large institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out bachelors’s public policy degrees to 5 students in 2019-2020.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at DePaul, the school also landed the #5 spot in our “Best Public Policy Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” ranking. The yearly cost to attend DePaul is $28,075 for Illinois Bachelor’s Degree Public Policy students whose families make $48-$75k.

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%.

Read full report on Public Policy at DePaul

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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