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2022 Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois

5 Ranked Colleges
227 Degrees Awarded
$23,100 Avg Net Price*
Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor's in Illinois

When it comes to choosing a college, students have a lot of options - but not all of them are good. At College Factual, we’re committed to helping you make that decision by providing information such as that found in our “Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois” ranking.

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.

This year’s “Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois” ranking analyzed 5 colleges that offered 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.

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 public policy program at the school. See our ranking methodology to learn more.

One Size Does Not Fit All

The public policy 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 Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois”.

You can create your own custom comparison that focuses on the factors most important to you using our tool, College Combat. When you have some time, check it out - you may want to bookmark the link so you don’t forget it.

Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois

The following schools top our list of the Best Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois.

Top 5 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Public Policy in Illinois

#3 in overall quality

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of Illinois at Chicago. It ranked #1 on our 2022 Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois list. This large school is located in Chicago, Illinois, and it awarded 25 bachelors’s public policy degrees in 2019-2020.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at UIC, the school also landed the #3 spot in our “Best Public Policy Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” ranking. It costs about $13,312 for illinois bachelor’s degree public policy students per year to attend UIC.

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%.

Full UIC Public Policy Report

#2

Olivet Nazarene University

Bourbonnais, Illinois
#4 in overall quality

Out of the 5 schools in the Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois that were part of this year’s ranking, Olivet Nazarene University landed the #2 spot on the list. Olivet Nazarene is located in Bourbonnais, Illinois and, has a small student population. In 2019-2020, this school awarded 2 bachelors’s public policy degrees to qualified students.

Olivet Nazarene also made our “Best Public Policy Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” list, coming in at #4. It costs about $20,195 for Illinois Bachelor’s Degree Public Policy students per year to attend Olivet Nazarene.

The student loan default rate at the school is 3.4%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

Read full report on Public Policy at Olivet Nazarene

#3

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 #3 for the Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois. 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 University is $30,090 for illinois bachelor’s degree public policy students.

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%.

Full DePaul University Public Policy Report

#4

Northwestern University

Evanston, Illinois

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Northwestern University. It ranked #4 on our 2022 Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois list. Northwestern University is a large private not-for-profit school situated in Evanston, Illinois. It awarded 66 bachelors’s public policy degrees in 2019-2020.

Northwestern not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #2 on our “Best Public Policy Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” list. The estimated yearly cost for Northwestern University is $24,664 for Illinois Bachelor’s Degree Public Policy students.

With a freshman retention rate of 97%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students. The student loan default rate at the school is 0.8%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%. The impressive student-to-faculty ratio of 6 to 1 means that students may have more opportunities to work more closely with their professors than they would at other schools.

Full Northwestern University Public Policy Report

#4

University of Chicago

Chicago, Illinois

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of Chicago. The school came in at #4 for the Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois. University of Chicago is a fairly large school located in Chicago, Illinois that handed out 129 bachelors’s public policy degrees in 2019-2020.

In addition to being on our illinois bachelor’s degree public policy students list, UChicago has also earned the #1 rank in our “Best Public Policy Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” ranking. The yearly cost to attend University of Chicago is $27,315 for Illinois Bachelor’s Degree Public Policy students.

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 low student loan default rate of 0.6% 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%. Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 100%.

Full UChicago Public Policy Report

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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.

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