2022 Best Value Visual Arts 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. Our mission at College Factual is to arm you with as much information as we can to help you make that decision. Our “Best Value Visual Arts Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois” ranking is one tool we have developed to help in this regard.

General Visual & Performing Arts is the 125th most popular major in the country with 6,359 degrees awarded in 2019-2020. In 2017-2018, general visual and performing arts graduates who were awarded their degree in 2015-2017, earned an average of $24,577 and had an average of $26,968 in loans still to pay off.

Across Illinois, there were 48 general visual and performing arts graduates with average earnings and debt of $22,350 and $41,514 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 37 general visual and performing arts graduates with average earnings and debt of $38,319 and $24,183 respectively.

This year’s “Best Value Visual Arts Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois” ranking looked at 4 colleges that offer degrees in a bachelor’s in general visual and performing arts. Not only do the schools that top this list have excellent general visual and performing arts programs, but they also cost less that schools of similar quality.

When determining these rankings, we looked at things such as overall quality of the general visual and performing arts program at the school and the cost to attend the school once aid has been awarded. Check out our ranking methodology for more information.

More Ways to Rank General Visual & Performing Arts Schools

The visual arts 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 Visual Arts Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois”.

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. We encourage you to try it out and pit your favorite colleges and universities head to head! If you don’t have time right now, you can bookmark it for later.

Best Value Visual Arts Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois

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

Top 4 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for General Visual & Performing Arts in Illinois

#1

University of Illinois at Chicago

Chicago, Illinois

#1 in overall quality

$13,312 Average Net Price

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of Illinois at Chicago. It ranked #1 on our 2022 Best Value Visual Arts Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois list. Located in Chicago, Illinois, this large public school awarded 8 degrees to qualified bachelors’s visual arts students in 2019-2020.

UIC not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #1 on our “Best General Visual & Performing Arts Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” list. The estimated yearly cost for University of Illinois at Chicago is $13,312 for illinois bachelor’s degree visual arts students.

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 more about General Visual & Performing Arts at University of Illinois at Chicago

#2

University of St Francis

Joliet, Illinois

#2 in overall quality

$17,538 Average Net Price

$20,140 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of St Francis. The school came in at #2 for the Best Value Visual Arts Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois. University of Saint Francis is a private not-for-profit institution located in Joliet, Illinois. The school has a small population, and it awarded 4 bachelors’s degrees in 2019-2020.

University of Saint Francis did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #2 on our “Best General Visual & Performing Arts Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” list. The estimated yearly cost for University of St Francis is $17,538 for Illinois Bachelor’s Degree Visual Arts students.

The low student loan default rate of 3.3% 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%.

Read full report on General Visual & Performing Arts at University of St Francis

#3

Trinity International University - Illinois

Deerfield, Illinois

#4 in overall quality

$21,204 Average Net Price

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Trinity International University - Illinois. The school came in at #3 for the Best Value Visual Arts Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois. TIU Illinois is a small private not-for-profit school situated in Deerfield, Illinois. It awarded 1 bachelors’s visual arts degrees in 2019-2020.

TIU Illinois also made our “Best General Visual & Performing Arts Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” list, coming in at #4. It costs about $21,204 for Illinois Bachelor’s Degree Visual Arts students per year to attend TIU Illinois.

With a student-to-faculty ratio of 8 to 1, it’s easy to see that the school is committed to helping their undergraduates succeed.

Read full report on General Visual & Performing Arts at Trinity International University - Illinois

#4

School of the Art Institute of Chicago

Chicago, Illinois

#3 in overall quality

$44,815 Average Net Price

$21,508 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend School of the Art Institute of Chicago. The school came in at #4 for the Best Value Visual Arts Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois. School of the Art Institute of Chicago is a small school located in Chicago, Illinois that handed out 10 bachelors’s visual arts degrees in 2019-2020.

School of the Art Institute of Chicago not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #3 on our “Best General Visual & Performing Arts Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” list. The estimated yearly cost for School of the Art Institute of Chicago is $44,815 for illinois bachelor’s degree visual arts students.

The student-to-faculty ratio of 8 to 1 is a sign that students will have more opportunities to engage with their professors one-on-one.

Read full report on General Visual & Performing Arts at School of the Art Institute of Chicago

• Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for General Visual & Performing Arts in the Great Lakes Region
• Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for General Visual & Performing 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.

Credits

• Credit for the banner image above goes to Sven Mandel / CC-BY-SA-4.0.

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