2023 Best Value Mechanical Engineering Schools in Illinois
Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing
Finding the Best Mechanical Engineering School for You
In 2020-2021, 1,183 degrees and certificates were awarded to mechanical engineering students who went to a Illinois college or university. This makes it the #31 most popular major in the state.
Today's students have lots of options to pick from when considering higher education opportunities. 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 Mechanical Engineering Schools in Illinois ranking is one of many tools that Course Advisor has developed to help you make your educational decision. This report analyzed 8 schools in Illinois to see which ones offered the best value programs for ME 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. 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.
Our calculations use out-of-state tuition and fees in our nationwide and regional rankings. For statewide rankings, we use average in-state tuition and fees.
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2023 Best Value Mechanical Engineering Schools in Illinois
The following schools top our list of the Best Value Mechanical Engineering Colleges.
Best Illinois Schools for Affordable Quality in Mechanical Engineering
Our 2023 rankings named University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign the best value school in Illinois for mechanical engineering students. UIUC is a very large public school located in the city of Champaign.
The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at UIUC are $17,634 a year. After completing their degree, ME graduates from UIUC carry an average student debtload of $18,420. For students who choose a 10-year repayment plan, the average monthly student loan payment is $500.
UIUC did well in our overall quality rankings, too. It placed #3 on our Best Mechanical Engineering Schools in Illinois list.
Full Mechanical Engineering at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Report
You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. The school came in at #2 on this year’s Best Value Mechanical Engineering Schools in Illinois list. Located in the large suburb of Edwardsville, SIUE is a public school with a large student population.
SIUE undergraduate students pay an average of $11,496 in in-state tuition and fees each year. ME majors at SIUE take out an average of $21,500 in student loans while working on their egree. Assuming that a graduate chooses a 10-year repayment plan, the average monthly loan payment is $231.
Full Mechanical Engineering at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Report
Out of the 8 schools in Illinois that were part of this year’s ranking, Northern Illinois University landed the # 3 spot on the list. Located in the suburb of Dekalb, NIU is a public college with a large student population.
The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at NIU are $14,738 a year. The average amount in student loans that ME majors at NIU take out is $26,871. This translates to an average monthly loan payment of $192, based on a 10-year repayment plan.
Out of the 8 schools in Illinois that were part of this year’s ranking, Southern Illinois University Carbondale landed the # 4 spot on the list. Located in the city of Carbondale, SIUC is a public school with a large student population.
In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at SIUC are $15,240 per year. On average, ME graduates from SIUC take out $25,000 in student loans while working on their degree.
Read full report on Mechanical Engineering at Southern Illinois University Carbondale
You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend University of Illinois at Chicago. The school came in at #5 on this year’s Best Value Mechanical Engineering Schools in Illinois list. Located in the large city of Chicago, UIC is a public school with a very large student population.
In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at UIC are $15,603 per year. After completing their degree, ME graduates from UIC carry an average student debtload of $20,390. This translates to an average monthly loan payment of $207, based on a 10-year repayment plan.
Bradley University came in at #6 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Mechanical Engineering Schools in Illinois ranking. Bradley is a medium-sized private not-for-profit school located in the medium-sized city of Peoria.
The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at Bradley are $36,360 a year. After completing their degree, ME graduates from Bradley carry an average student debtload of $26,978.
Bradley also claimed a spot on our Best Mechanical Engineering Schools in Illinois list. It’s in the top 15% of all schools in this category.
Northwestern University landed the #7 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value mechanical engineering programs. Northwestern is a very large private not-for-profit school located in the small city of Evanston.
Northwestern undergraduate students pay an average of $60,768 in in-state tuition and fees each year. On average, ME graduates from Northwestern take out $15,500 in student loans while working on their degree.
Northwestern did well in our overall quality rankings, too. It placed #1 on our Best Mechanical Engineering Schools in Illinois list.
Read full report on Mechanical Engineering at Northwestern University
Illinois Institute of Technology did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best value schools for mechanical engineering students. It came in at #8 on the list. Illinois Tech is a medium-sized private not-for-profit school located in the city of Chicago.
In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at Illinois Tech are $50,375 per year. ME majors at Illinois Tech take out an average of $24,750 in student loans while working on their egree.
Full Mechanical Engineering at Illinois Institute of Technology Report
Best Value Mechanical Engineering Colleges in the Great Lakes Region
Explore all the Best Value Mechanical Engineering Colleges in the Great Lakes Area or other specific states within that region.
| State | Degrees Awarded |
|---|---|
| Michigan | 2,498 |
| Ohio | 2,106 |
| Indiana | 1,336 |
| Wisconsin | 855 |
More Mechanical Engineering Rankings in Illinois
Majors Related to ME
Mechanical Engineering is one of 40 different types of programs to choose from.
Majors Similar to ME
| Related Major | Annual Graduates |
|---|---|
| Electrical Engineering | 28,844 |
| Civil Engineering | 21,388 |
| Computer Engineering | 17,987 |
| Chemical Engineering | 12,917 |
| Biomedical Engineering | 12,811 |
Notes and References
*These averages are for the top 8 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 Michel Villeneuve.
More about our data sources and methodologies.
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