2022 Best Value Master’s Degree Colleges for General Visual & Performing Arts in the Great Lakes Region

Students have lots of options to chooose from today when trying to decide which college to attend. College Factual was founded, in part, to help students make the decision as to what would be the best school for them. Our “Best Value Visual Arts Schools for a Master’s in the Great Lakes Region” ranking is part of that endeavor.

In 2019-2020, 6,359 people earned their degree in general visual and performing arts, making the major the 125th most popular in the United States. 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 the Great Lakes region, there were 455 general visual and performing arts graduates with average earnings and debt of $26,114 and $31,060 respectively. At the master’s degree level specifically, there were 39 general visual and performing arts graduates with average earnings and debt of $57,039 and $42,488 respectively.

This year’s “Best Value Visual Arts Schools for a Master’s in the Great Lakes Region” ranking looked at 3 colleges that offer degrees in a bachelor’s in general visual and performing arts. This ranking identifies schools with high-quality general visual and performing arts programs that also have a lower cost than 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. For more information, check out our ranking methodology.

One Size Does Not Fit All

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 Visual Arts 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 Visual Arts Schools for a Master’s in the Great Lakes Region

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

Top 3 Best Value Master’s Degree Colleges for General Visual & Performing Arts in the Great Lakes Region

#1

University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

#1 in overall quality

$25,295 Avg Grad Tuition & Fees

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee. It ranked #1 on our 2022 Best Value Visual Arts Schools for a Master’s in the Great Lakes Region list. University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee is a public institution located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The school has a large population, and it awarded 8 masters’s degrees in 2019-2020.

UWM not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #1 on our “Best General Visual & Performing 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 University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee General Visual & Performing Arts Report

#2

Columbus College of Art and Design

Columbus, Ohio

#3 in overall quality

$37,370 Avg Grad Tuition & Fees

$35,060 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Columbus College of Art and Design. It ranked #2 on our 2022 Best Value Visual Arts Schools for a Master’s in the Great Lakes Region list. This small school is located in Columbus, Ohio, and it awarded 15 masters’s visual arts degrees in 2019-2020.

CCAD did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #3 on our “Best General Visual & Performing Arts Master’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region” list. Average graduate tuition and fees at CCAD are $37,370, but some majors have different tuition rates.

Read more about General Visual & Performing Arts at CCAD

#3

School of the Art Institute of Chicago

Chicago, Illinois

#2 in overall quality

$43,912 Avg Grad Tuition & Fees

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend School of the Art Institute of Chicago. It ranked #3 on our 2022 Best Value Visual Arts Schools for a Master’s in the Great Lakes Region list. School of the Art Institute of Chicago is located in Chicago, Illinois and, has a small student population. In 2019-2020, this school awarded 9 masters’s visual arts degrees to qualified students.

School of the Art Institute of Chicago did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #2 on our “Best General Visual & Performing Arts Master’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region” list. Average graduate tuition and fees at School of the Art Institute of Chicago are $43,912, but some majors have different tuition rates.

Full School of the Art Institute of Chicago General Visual & Performing Arts Report

• Best Value Master’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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