2023 Best Value General Education Master's Degree Schools in Illinois
Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing
Finding the Best General Education Master's Degree 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.
Along with in-depth profiles of schools and the programs they offer, Course Advisor has created the Best Value General Education Master's Degree Schools in Illinois to help you in your search for the best school for you. Our analysis looked at 9 schools in Illinois to see which master's degree 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.
Best Illinois Schools for Affordable Quality for a Master's in General Education
Our 2023 rankings named McKendree University the best value school in Illinois for general education students working on their master’s degree. 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 graduate student at McKendree are $9,756 a year.
Full General Education at McKendree University Report
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The excellent master’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 general education schools in Illinois. UIUC is a very large public school located in the city of Champaign.
In-state tuition fees for graduate students at UIUC are $17,823 per year.
UIUC also took the #3 spot in our Best General Education Master’s Degree Schools in Illinois rankings.
Full General Education at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Report
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The excellent master’s degree programs at Concordia University, Chicago helped the school earn the #3 place on this year’s ranking of the best value general education schools in Illinois. Located in the large suburb of River Forest, Concordia University, Chicago is a private not-for-profit school with a moderately-sized student population.
Concordia University, Chicago graduate students pay an average of $9,378 in in-state tuition and fees each year.
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A rank of #4 on this year’s list means Western Illinois University is a great value for general education students working on their master’s degree. WIU is a medium-sized public school located in the town of Macomb.
WIU graduate students pay an average of $12,182 in in-state tuition and fees each year.
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You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend Northern Illinois University. The school came in at #5 on this year’s Best Value General Education Master’s Degree Schools in Illinois list. Located in the suburb of Dekalb, NIU is a public school with a fairly large student population.
In-state tuition fees for graduate students at NIU are $11,390 per year.
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With a ranking of #6, North Park University did quite well on this year’s best value schools for general education students working on their master’s degree. North Park is a small private not-for-profit school located in the city of Chicago.
In-state tuition fees for graduate students at North Park are $14,184 per year.
Full General Education at North Park University Report
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Rockford University did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for general education students to get a master’s degree. It came in at #7 on the list. Rockford is a small private not-for-profit school located in the medium-sized city of Rockford.
The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at Rockford are $13,615 a year.
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Elmhurst University came in at #8 in this year’s edition of the Best Value General Education Master’s Degree Schools in Illinois ranking. Elmhurst is a small private not-for-profit school located in the suburb of Elmhurst.
The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at Elmhurst are $32,800 a year.
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With a ranking of #9, Northwestern University did quite well on this year’s best value schools for general education students working on their master’s degree. Northwestern is a very large private not-for-profit school located in the small city of Evanston.
Northwestern graduate students pay an average of $56,567 in in-state tuition and fees each year.
Northwestern also made our Best General Education Master’s Degree Schools in Illinois list, coming in at #1.
Read full report on General Education at Northwestern University
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 9 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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