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2022 Best Value Film Schools for a Master’s in the Great Lakes Region

9 Ranked Colleges
108 Degrees Awarded
$27,400 Avg Grad Tuition & Fees*
Best Value Film Schools for a Master's in the Great Lakes Region

When pursuing a degree in today’s world, students have many different options to choose from. One of our goals at College Factual is to give you as much information as we can - such as our “Best Value Film Schools for a Master’s in the Great Lakes Region” ranking - to help you make that decision.

Film, Video & Photographic Arts is the 64th most popular major in the country with 17,506 degrees awarded in 2019-2020. In 2017-2018, film, video and photographic arts graduates who were awarded their degree in 2015-2017, earned an average of $22,714 and had an average of $31,549 in loans still to pay off.

Across the Great Lakes region, there were 1,853 film, video and photographic arts graduates with average earnings and debt of $23,124 and $29,674 respectively. At the master’s degree level specifically, there were 108 film, video and photographic arts graduates with average earnings and debt of $57,039 and $42,488 respectively.

For this year’s “Best Value Film Schools for a Master’s in the Great Lakes Region” ranking, we looked at 9 colleges that offer a degree in film, video and photographic arts. This ranking identifies schools with high-quality film, video and photographic arts programs that also have a lower cost than schools of similar quality.

Some of the factors we look at when determining these rankings are overall quality of the film, video and photographic arts program at the school and the cost of the school after aid is awarded among other things. Check out our ranking methodology for more information.

More Ways to Rank Film, Video & Photographic Arts Schools

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 Film Schools for a Master’s in the Great Lakes Region” list to help you make the college decision.

In addition to our rankings, you can take two colleges and compare them based on the criteria that matters most to you in our unique tool, College Combat. Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.

Best Value Film Schools for a Master’s in the Great Lakes Region

The following schools top our list of the Best Best Value Film Schools for a Master’s in the Great Lakes Region.

Top 9 Best Value Master’s Degree Colleges for Film, Video & Photographic Arts in the Great Lakes Region

#1

Columbia College Chicago

Chicago, Illinois

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Columbia College Chicago. The school came in at #1 for the Best Value Film Schools for a Master’s in the Great Lakes Region. Columbia College Chicago is a medium-sized private not-for-profit school situated in Chicago, Illinois. It awarded 24 masters’s film degrees in 2019-2020.

Columbia also made our “Best Film, Video & Photographic Arts Master’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region” list, coming in at #2. Average graduate tuition and fees at Columbia College Chicago are $2,350, but some majors have different tuition rates.

Read more about Film, Video & Photographic Arts at Columbia College Chicago

#2

DePaul University

Chicago, Illinois

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend DePaul University. It ranked #2 on our 2022 Best Value Film Schools for a Master’s in the Great Lakes Region list. DePaul University is a large private not-for-profit school situated in Chicago, Illinois. It awarded 39 masters’s film degrees in 2019-2020.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at DePaul, the school also landed the #3 spot in our “Best Film, Video & Photographic Arts Master’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region” ranking. Average graduate tuition and fees at DePaul University are $19,760, but you may pay more or less depending on your major.

Read more about Film, Video & Photographic Arts at DePaul

#5 in overall quality

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Ohio University - Athens Campus. It ranked #3 on our 2022 Best Value Film Schools for a Master’s in the Great Lakes Region list. OHIO Athens is a large school located in Athens, Ohio that handed out 14 masters’s film degrees in 2019-2020.

OHIO Athens also took the #5 spot in our “Best Film, Video & Photographic Arts Master’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region” ranking. Although you might pay more or less depending on your area of study, average graduate tuition and fees at Ohio University - Athens Campus are $17,712.

Full Ohio University - Athens Campus Film, Video & Photographic Arts Report

#4

Central Michigan University

Mount Pleasant, Michigan
#8 in overall quality

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Central Michigan University. It ranked #4 on our 2022 Best Value Film Schools for a Master’s in the Great Lakes Region list. Located in Mount Pleasant, Michigan, this fairly large public school handed out 1 diplomas to qualified masters’s film students in 2019-2020.

Central Michigan not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #8 on our “Best Film, Video & Photographic Arts Master’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region” list. Average graduate tuition and fees at Central Michigan University are $19,359, but some majors have different tuition rates.

Full Central Michigan Film, Video & Photographic Arts Report

#7 in overall quality

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee. It ranked #5 on our 2022 Best Value Film Schools for a Master’s in the Great Lakes Region list. University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee is located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and, has a large student population. In 2019-2020, this school awarded 2 masters’s film degrees to qualified students.

UWM did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #7 on our “Best Film, Video & Photographic Arts Master’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region” list. Average graduate tuition and fees at UWM are $25,295, but you may pay more or less depending on your major.

Full UWM Film, Video & Photographic Arts Report

#6 in overall quality

University of Illinois at Chicago came in at #6 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Film Schools for a Master’s in the Great Lakes Region ranking. This large school is located in Chicago, Illinois, and it awarded 3 masters’s film degrees in 2019-2020.

UIC did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #6 on our “Best Film, Video & Photographic Arts Master’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region” list. Average graduate tuition and fees at UIC are $27,036, but some majors have different tuition rates.

Read full report on Film, Video & Photographic Arts at University of Illinois at Chicago

#4 in overall quality

Ohio State University - Main Campus ranked #7 on this year’s Best Value Film Schools for a Master’s in the Great Lakes Region list. Ohio State University - Main Campus is a public institution located in Columbus, Ohio. The school has a large population, and it awarded 1 masters’s degrees in 2019-2020.

Ohio State did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #4 on our “Best Film, Video & Photographic Arts Master’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region” list. Although you might pay more or less depending on your area of study, average graduate tuition and fees at Ohio State University - Main Campus are $37,141.

Read full report on Film, Video & Photographic Arts at Ohio State

#8

Cranbrook Academy of Art

Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
#9 in overall quality

With a ranking of #8, Cranbrook Academy of Art did quite well on the 2022 Best Value Film Schools for a Master’s in the Great Lakes Region list. Bloomfield Hills, Michigan is the setting for this small institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out masters’s film degrees to 5 students in 2019-2020.

In addition to being on our great lakes region master’s degree film students list, Carnbrook Academy has also earned the #9 rank in our “Best Film, Video & Photographic Arts Master’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region” ranking. Average graduate tuition and fees at Carnbrook Academy are $40,900, but you may pay more or less depending on your major.

Read more about Film, Video & Photographic Arts at Cranbrook Academy of Art

#9

Northwestern University

Evanston, Illinois
#1 in overall quality

With a ranking of #9, Northwestern University did quite well on the 2022 Best Value Film Schools for a Master’s in the Great Lakes Region list. Located in Evanston, Illinois, this large private not-for-profit school handed out 12 degrees to qualified masters’s film students in 2019-2020.

In addition to being on our great lakes region master’s degree film students list, Northwestern has also earned the #1 rank in our “Best Film, Video & Photographic Arts Master’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region” ranking. Average graduate tuition and fees at Northwestern University are $56,567, but you may pay more or less depending on your major.

Read more about Film, Video & Photographic Arts at Northwestern

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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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