2023 Best Value General Education Schools in Illinois
Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing
Finding the Best General Education School for You
In 2020-2021, 453 degrees and certificates were awarded to general education students who went to a Illinois college or university. This makes it the #69 most popular major in the state.
There are so many programs in today's world that it can tough to figure out which one is the right one 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 General Education Schools in Illinois ranking is one of many tools that Course Advisor has developed to help you make your educational decision. Our analysis looked at 15 schools in Illinois to see which programs offered the best value experiences for education students with the aim of identifying those quality schools that are more affordable than some of their counterparts.
This ranking is not just a list of inexpensive schools. We also consider each school's quality, since we believe a low-quality school may not be a 'bargain' at any price. Specifically, our score for quality is discounted by the published tuition and fees charged by the given college. This gives the cost per unit of quality for each college. The more quality your dollar buys, the better the value.
For nationwide and regional rankings, we use out-of-state tuition and fees in our calculations. For statewide rankings, we use average in-state tuition and fees.
Top 10 Best General Education Schools
Our 2023 rankings named University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign the best value school in Illinois for general education students. UIUC is a very large public school located in the small city of Champaign.
UIUC undergraduate students pay an average of $17,634 in in-state tuition and fees each year. The average amount in student loans that education majors at UIUC take out is $20,500.
UIUC also took the #3 spot in our Best General Education Schools in Illinois rankings.
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The excellent programs at Western Illinois University helped the school earn the #2 place on this year’s ranking of the best general education schools in Illinois. WIU is a moderately-sized public school located in the remote town of Macomb.
WIU undergraduate students pay an average of $13,297 in in-state tuition and fees each year.
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A rank of #3 on this year’s list means Northern Illinois University is a great value for general education students. Located in the suburb of Dekalb, NIU is a public school with a fairly large student population.
In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at NIU are $14,738 per year.
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The excellent programs at McKendree University helped the school earn the #4 place on this year’s ranking of the best general education schools in Illinois. Located in the large suburb of Lebanon, McKendree is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.
The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at McKendree are $33,050 a year.
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A rank of #5 on this year’s list means North Park University is a great value for general education students. North Park is a small private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Chicago.
The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at North Park are $33,050 a year.
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Rockford University ranked #6 on this year’s Best Value General Education Schools in Illinois list. Rockford is a small private not-for-profit school located in the midsize city of Rockford.
The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at Rockford are $34,000 a year.
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With a ranking of #7, Trinity Christian College did quite well on this year’s best value schools for general education students. Trinity Christian is a small private not-for-profit school located in the large suburb of Palos Heights.
The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at Trinity Christian are $33,275 a year.
Trinity Christian excels when it comes to quality. It’s ranked in the top 20% of all schools on our Best General Education Schools in Illinois list.
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With a ranking of #8, Concordia University, Chicago did quite well on this year’s best value schools for general education students. Located in the suburb of River Forest, Concordia University, Chicago is a private not-for-profit college with a moderately-sized student population.
Concordia University, Chicago undergraduate students pay an average of $34,310 in in-state tuition and fees each year.
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With a ranking of #9, Elmhurst University did quite well on this year’s best value schools for general education students. Elmhurst is a small private not-for-profit school located in the suburb of Elmhurst.
The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at Elmhurst are $39,400 a year.
In addition to its great value ranking, Elmhurst is in the top 20% of all schools on our Best General Education Schools in Illinois list.
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Northwestern University came in at #10 in this year’s edition of the Best Value General Education Schools in Illinois ranking. Northwestern is a very large private not-for-profit school located in the city of Evanston.
Northwestern undergraduate students pay an average of $60,768 in in-state tuition and fees each year.
Northwestern did well in our overall quality rankings, too. It placed #1 on our Best General Education Schools in Illinois list.
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Request InformationBest Value General Education Colleges in the Great Lakes Region
Explore all the Best Value General Education Colleges in the Great Lakes Area or other specific states within that region.
| State | Degrees Awarded |
|---|---|
| Michigan | 700 |
| Ohio | 706 |
| Indiana | 502 |
| Wisconsin | 515 |
More General Education Rankings in Illinois
Majors Related to Education
One of 14 majors within the area of study, general education has other similar majors worth exploring.
Most Popular Related Majors
| Related Major | Annual Graduates |
|---|---|
| Teacher Education Grade Specific | 110,226 |
| Educational Administration | 46,469 |
| Teacher Education Subject Specific | 43,297 |
| Special Education | 36,792 |
| Curriculum & Instruction | 19,832 |
Notes and References
*These averages are for the top 15 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 KOKUYO.
More about our data sources and methodologies.
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