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Best Value Communication & Journalism Bachelor's Degree Schools in Illinois

2023 Best Value Communication & Journalism Bachelor's Degree Schools in Illinois

Identifying Quality Schools at More Affordable Prices

28 Colleges
$28,346 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$32,860 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Communication & Journalism Bachelor's Degree School for You

Communication & Journalism is the #12 most popular major in Illinois with 4,261 degrees and certificates awarded in 2020-2021.

There are lots of options to pick from today when trying to decide which program is right for you. You can choose a traditional brick and mortar school, or with the growth of online education, you can attend a school half-way across the country without even leaving your house. Also there are many trade schools that offer short-term programs that open up more career options.

The Best Value Communication & Journalism Bachelor's Degree Schools in Illinois ranking is one of many tools that Course Advisor has developed to help you make your educational decision. This report analyzed 28 schools in Illinois to see which ones offered the best value bachelor's degree programs for communication and journalism students. The goal was to highlight schools with more affordable prices than others offering similar quality experiences.

When determining this ranking, we place a high emphasis on the school's quality as well as its sticker price. Even though a college may be affordable, it may not offer value. More specifically, we discount our quality score by the published tuition and fees charged by a school. This gives the cost per unit of quality for each college. The value is determined by how much quality your dollar buys.

Our calculations use out-of-state tuition and fees in our nationwide and regional rankings. Average in-state tuition and fees are used for our statewide rankings.

Top 10 Best Communication & Journalism Bachelor's Degree Schools

Our 2023 rankings named Illinois State University the best value school in Illinois for communication and journalism students working on their bachelor’s degree. Illinois State is a fairly large public school located in the midsize suburb of Normal.

Illinois State undergraduate students pay an average of $13,968 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

In addition to its best value ranking, and one of the reasons why the school is on the list, Illinois State is ranked #5 for overall quality for communication and journalism in Illinois.

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The excellent bachelor’s degree programs at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign helped the school earn the #2 place on this year’s ranking of the best value communication and journalism schools in Illinois. Located in the small city of Champaign, UIUC is a public college with a fairly large student population.

UIUC undergraduate students pay an average of $17,634 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

UIUC also took the #3 spot in our Best Communication & Journalism Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois rankings.

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You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. The school came in at #3 on this year’s Best Value Communication & Journalism Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois list. SIUE is a fairly large public school located in the suburb of Edwardsville.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at SIUE are $11,496 a year.

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Out of the 28 schools in Illinois that were part of this year’s ranking, Western Illinois University landed the # 4 spot on the list. Located in the town of Macomb, WIU is a public school with a moderately-sized student population.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at WIU are $13,297 a year.

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#5

Eastern Illinois University

Charleston, IL

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend Eastern Illinois University. The school came in at #5 on this year’s Best Value Communication & Journalism Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois list. Located in the town of Charleston, EIU is a public college with a medium-sized student population.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at EIU are $12,297 a year.

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#6

Governors State University

University Park, IL

Governors State University landed the #6 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value bachelor’s degree communication and journalism programs. Located in the rural area of University Park, GSU is a public school with a small student population.

GSU undergraduate students pay an average of $10,108 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

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University of Illinois at Springfield did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for communication and journalism students to get a bachelor’s degree. It came in at #7 on the list. UIS is a small public school located in the medium-sized city of Springfield.

In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at UIS are $12,053 per year.

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With a ranking of #8, Northern Illinois University did quite well on this year’s best value schools for communication and journalism students working on their bachelor’s degree. NIU is a large public school located in the small suburb of Dekalb.

In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at NIU are $14,738 per year.

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University of Illinois at Chicago came in at #9 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Communication & Journalism Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois ranking. UIC is a very large public school located in the large city of Chicago.

In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at UIC are $15,603 per year.

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Northeastern Illinois University landed the #10 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value bachelor’s degree communication and journalism programs. Northeastern Illinois University is a moderately-sized public school located in the large city of Chicago.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at Northeastern Illinois University are $12,064 a year.

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Best Value Communication & Journalism Colleges in the Great Lakes Region

Explore all the Best Value Communication & Journalism Colleges in the Great Lakes Area or other specific states within that region.

State Degrees Awarded
Indiana 2,714
Michigan 3,555
Ohio 3,901
Wisconsin 1,988

Communication & Journalism Majors to Study

Major Annual Graduates
Communication & Media Studies 66,787
Public Relations & Advertising 21,099
Radio, Television & Digital Communication 17,669
Journalism 13,552
Communication & Journalism (Other) 1,128
Publishing 336

Related Major Annual Graduates
Education 327,871
Social Sciences 205,984
Psychology 195,678
Family, Consumer & Human Sciences 55,820
History 32,731

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 25 schools only.

  • 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 the rest 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).
  • Credit for the banner image above goes to Josh Hallett.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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