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2022 Best Value Photography Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Making $0-$30k

4 Ranked Colleges
67 Degrees Awarded
$18,400 Avg Net Price*
Best Value Photography Schools for a Bachelor's in Illinois For Those Making $0-$30k

It’s not easy to decide which college to attend when there so many options available for students. College Factual has developed its “Best Value Photography Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Making $0-$30k” ranking as one item you can use to help make this decision.

In 2019-2020, 2,438 people earned their degree in photography, making the major the 291st most popular in the United States.

Across Illinois, there were 73 photography graduates with average earnings and debt of $0 and $0 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 67 photography graduates with average earnings and debt of $38,319 and $24,183 respectively.

For this year’s “Best Value Photography Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Making $0-$30k” ranking, we looked at 4 colleges that offer a degree in photography. This ranking identifies schools with high-quality photography programs that also have a lower cost than 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 photography program at the school. For more information, check out our ranking methodology.

One Size Does Not Fit All

The photography 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 Photography Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Making $0-$30k”.

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. When you have some time, check it out - you may want to bookmark the link so you don’t forget it.

Best Value Photography Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Making $0-$30k

The following schools top our list of the Best Best Value Photography Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Making $0-$30k.

Top 4 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Photography (Income $0-$30k) in Illinois

#1 in overall quality

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. It ranked #1 on our 2022 Best Value Photography Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Making $0-$30k list. Located in Champaign, Illinois, this large public school handed out 11 degrees to qualified bachelors’s photography students in 2019-2020.

In addition to being on our illinois bachelor’s degree photography students whose families make $0-$30k list, UIUC has also earned the #1 rank in our “Best Photography Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for UIUC is $5,477 for illinois bachelor’s degree photography students whose families make $0-$30k.

The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 2.4%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 94%.

Read full report on Photography at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

#2

Bradley University

Peoria, Illinois
#2 in overall quality

Out of the 4 schools in the Best Value Photography Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Making $0-$30k that were part of this year’s ranking, Bradley University landed the #2 spot on the list. Located in Peoria, Illinois, this medium-sized private not-for-profit school awarded 9 degrees to qualified bachelors’s photography students in 2019-2020.

Bradley did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #2 on our “Best Photography Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” list. The yearly cost to attend Bradley University is $17,205 for illinois bachelor’s degree photography students whose families make $0-$30k.

Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 86%. The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 2.5%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.

Full Bradley Photography Report

#3

Columbia College Chicago

Chicago, Illinois
#3 in overall quality

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Columbia College Chicago. It ranked #3 on our 2022 Best Value Photography Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Making $0-$30k list. Columbia is a private not-for-profit institution located in Chicago, Illinois. The school has a medium-sized population, and it awarded 44 bachelors’s degrees in 2019-2020.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at Columbia, the school also landed the #3 spot in our “Best Photography Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” ranking. It costs about $27,120 for illinois bachelor’s degree photography students whose families make $0-$30k per year to attend Columbia.

Read full report on Photography at Columbia College Chicago

#4

American Academy of Art

Chicago, Illinois
#4 in overall quality

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend American Academy of Art. It ranked #4 on our 2022 Best Value Photography Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Making $0-$30k list. This small school is located in Chicago, Illinois, and it awarded 2 bachelors’s photography degrees in 2019-2020.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at The Academy, the school also landed the #4 spot in our “Best Photography Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” ranking. It costs about $23,987 for illinois bachelor’s degree photography students whose families make $0-$30k per year to attend The Academy.

The impressive student-to-faculty ratio of 7 to 1 means that students may have more opportunities to work more closely with their professors than they would at other schools.

Read full report on Photography at American Academy of Art

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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