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2022 Best Value Photography Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Getting Aid

4 Ranked Colleges
67 Degrees Awarded
$25,200 Avg Net Price*
Best Value Photography Schools for a Bachelor's in Illinois For Those Getting Aid

With all of the options students have for higher education today, it can be tough to choose which direction to take. College Factual has developed its “Best Value Photography Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Getting Aid” 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.

This year’s “Best Value Photography Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Getting Aid” ranking looked at 4 colleges that offer degrees in a bachelor’s 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. See our ranking methodology to learn more.

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 Getting Aid”.

To further help you make the college decision, we’ve developed a unique tool called College Combat that allows you to compare schools based on the factors that matter the most to you. If you’re torn between two schools, you can use it to help you see how they stack up against one another. Bookmark it so you can compare any new schools that might interest you.

Best Value Photography Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Getting Aid

The following schools top our list of the Best Best Value Photography Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Getting Aid.

Top 4 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Photography in Illinois (With Aid)

#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 Getting Aid list. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is a large school located in Champaign, Illinois that handed out 11 bachelors’s photography degrees in 2019-2020.

In addition to being on our illinois bachelor’s degree photography students with aid list, UIUC has also earned the #1 rank in our “Best Photography Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” ranking. The yearly cost to attend University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is $15,880 for illinois bachelor’s degree photography students with aid.

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%. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 94%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.

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

#2

Bradley University

Peoria, Illinois
#2 in overall quality

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Bradley University. The school came in at #2 for the Best Value Photography Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Getting Aid. Bradley is a medium-sized school located in Peoria, Illinois that handed out 9 bachelors’s photography degrees in 2019-2020.

In addition to being on our illinois bachelor’s degree photography students with aid list, Bradley has also earned the #2 rank in our “Best Photography Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for Bradley is $25,634 for illinois bachelor’s degree photography students with aid.

The low student loan default rate of 2.5% 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 86%.

Read full report on Photography at Bradley University

#3

Columbia College Chicago

Chicago, Illinois
#3 in overall quality

Out of the 4 schools in the Best Value Photography Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Getting Aid that were part of this year’s ranking, Columbia College Chicago landed the #3 spot on the list. Located in Chicago, Illinois, this medium-sized private not-for-profit school handed out 44 diplomas to qualified bachelors’s photography students in 2019-2020.

In addition to being on our illinois bachelor’s degree photography students with aid list, Columbia has also earned the #3 rank in our “Best Photography Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” ranking. It costs about $31,099 for Illinois Bachelor’s Degree Photography students with aid per year to attend Columbia.

Read more about Photography at Columbia

#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 Getting Aid list. Chicago, Illinois is the setting for this small institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out bachelors’s photography degrees to 2 students in 2019-2020.

In addition to being on our illinois bachelor’s degree photography students with aid list, The Academy has also earned the #4 rank in our “Best Photography Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for American Academy of Art is $28,106 for illinois bachelor’s degree photography students with aid.

With a student-to-faculty ratio of 7 to 1, it’s easy to see that the school is committed to helping their undergraduates succeed.

Full American Academy of Art Photography Report

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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