2022 Best Value Master’s Degree Colleges for Film, Video & Photographic Arts in Illinois

Students have lots of options to chooose from today when trying to decide which college to attend. 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 Illinois” ranking - to help you make that decision.

In 2019-2020, 17,506 people earned their degree in film, video and photographic arts, making the major the 64th most popular in the United States. 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 Illinois, there were 631 film, video and photographic arts graduates with average earnings and debt of $23,838 and $41,036 respectively. At the master’s degree level specifically, there were 85 film, video and photographic arts graduates with average earnings and debt of $57,267 and $46,814 respectively.

This year’s “Best Value Film Schools for a Master’s in Illinois” ranking looked at 3 colleges that offer degrees in a bachelor’s 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.

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 film, video and photographic arts program at the school. See our ranking methodology to learn more.

One Size Does Not Fit All

Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we’ve developed the “Best Value Film Schools for a Master’s in Illinois” ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.

You can create your own custom comparison that focuses on the factors most important to you using our tool, College Combat. Test it out by comparing your favorite schools against others you are considering, or bookmark the tool so you can experiment with it later.

Best Value Film Schools for a Master’s in Illinois

The colleges and universities below are the best for illinois master’s degree film students.

Top 3 Best Value Master’s Degree Colleges for Film, Video & Photographic Arts in Illinois

#1

Columbia College Chicago

Chicago, Illinois

#2 in overall quality

$2,350 Avg Grad Tuition & Fees

$32,391 Average Early-Career Earnings

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 Illinois. Columbia is a medium-sized private not-for-profit school situated in Chicago, Illinois. It awarded 24 masters’s film degrees in 2019-2020.

Columbia did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #2 on our “Best Film, Video & Photographic Arts Master’s Degree Schools in Illinois” list. Although you might pay more or less depending on your area of study, average graduate tuition and fees at Columbia are $2,350.

Read full report on Film, Video & Photographic Arts at Columbia College Chicago

#2

DePaul University

Chicago, Illinois

#3 in overall quality

$19,760 Avg Grad Tuition & Fees

$30,984 Average Early-Career Earnings

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 Illinois list. Located in Chicago, Illinois, this large private not-for-profit school awarded 39 diplomas to qualified masters’s film students in 2019-2020.

DePaul also took the #3 spot in our “Best Film, Video & Photographic Arts Master’s Degree Schools in Illinois” ranking. Although you might pay more or less depending on your area of study, average graduate tuition and fees at DePaul University are $19,760.

Full DePaul University Film, Video & Photographic Arts Report

#3

Northwestern University

Evanston, Illinois

#1 in overall quality

$56,567 Avg Grad Tuition & Fees

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Northwestern University. The school came in at #3 for the Best Value Film Schools for a Master’s in Illinois. Northwestern University is located in Evanston, Illinois and, has a large student population. In 2019-2020, this school awarded 12 masters’s film degrees to qualified students.

Northwestern also took the #1 spot in our “Best Film, Video & Photographic Arts Master’s Degree Schools in Illinois” ranking. Average graduate tuition and fees at Northwestern are $56,567, but some majors have different tuition rates.

Full Northwestern Film, Video & Photographic Arts Report

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

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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