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Best Value Criminal Justice & Corrections Master's Degree Schools in Illinois

2023 Best Value Criminal Justice & Corrections Master's Degree Schools in Illinois

Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing

10 Colleges
$18,376 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$48,557 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Criminal Justice & Corrections Master's Degree School for You

With 2,483 degrees and certificates handed out in 2020-2021, criminal justice and corrections is the #12 most popular major in Illinois.

Today's students have lots of options to pick from when considering higher education opportunities. You're no longer limited to schools in your local area, either, since online programs are becoming more prevalent. Or you may find the programs at a trade school to be a better alternative for you.

To help you arm yourself with the information you need to make your decision, Course Advisor has developed this Best Value Criminal Justice & Corrections Master's Degree Schools in Illinois ranking. This report analyzed 10 schools in Illinois to see which ones offered the best value master's degree programs for criminal justice 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.

Top 10 Best Criminal Justice & Corrections Master's Degree Schools

Our analysis found Illinois State University to be the best value school for criminal justice and corrections students who want to pursue a master’s degree in Illinois. Located in the midsize suburb of Normal, Illinois State is a public school with a fairly large student population.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at Illinois State are $9,773 per year.

Illinois State did well in our overall quality rankings, too. It placed #5 on our Best Criminal Justice & Corrections Master’s Degree Schools in Illinois list.

Full Criminal Justice & Corrections at Illinois State University Report

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#2

Governors State University

University Park, IL

A rank of #2 on this year’s list means Governors State University is a great value for criminal justice and corrections students working on their master’s degree. GSU is a small public school located in the rural area of University Park.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at GSU are $8,320 a year.

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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 Criminal Justice & Corrections Master’s Degree Schools in Illinois list. Located in the suburb of Edwardsville, SIUE is a public school with a fairly large student population.

SIUE graduate students pay an average of $9,316 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

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The excellent master’s degree programs at Western Illinois University helped the school earn the #4 place on this year’s ranking of the best value criminal justice and corrections schools in Illinois. WIU is a medium-sized public school located in the remote town of Macomb.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at WIU are $12,182 per year.

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#5

Lewis University

Romeoville, IL

Out of the 10 schools in Illinois that were part of this year’s ranking, Lewis University landed the # 5 spot on the list. Located in the large suburb of Romeoville, Lewis is a private not-for-profit college with a medium-sized student population.

Lewis graduate students pay an average of $14,960 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

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#6

Aurora University

Aurora, IL

Aurora University ranked #6 on this year’s Best Value Criminal Justice & Corrections Master’s Degree Schools in Illinois list. Located in the suburb of Aurora, Aurora is a private not-for-profit school with a medium-sized student population.

Aurora graduate students pay an average of $14,100 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

On top of its placing in our value ranking, Aurora also did well on our Best Criminal Justice & Corrections Master’s Degree Schools in Illinois list. It’s in the top 20% of all schools reviewed in this analysis.

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Chicago State University did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for criminal justice and corrections students to get a master’s degree. It came in at #7 on the list. CSU is a small public school located in the city of Chicago.

CSU graduate students pay an average of $9,728 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

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University of Illinois at Chicago ranked #8 on this year’s Best Value Criminal Justice & Corrections Master’s Degree Schools in Illinois list. Located in the city of Chicago, UIC is a public college with a fairly large student population.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at UIC are $17,277 per year.

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Loyola University Chicago landed the #9 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value master’s degree criminal justice and corrections programs. Loyola Chicago is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Chicago.

Loyola Chicago graduate students pay an average of $19,894 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

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#10

University of Chicago

Chicago, IL

University of Chicago ranked #10 on this year’s Best Value Criminal Justice & Corrections Master’s Degree Schools in Illinois list. Located in the city of Chicago, UChicago is a private not-for-profit college with a fairly large student population.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at UChicago are $63,936 per year.

UChicago also made our Best Criminal Justice & Corrections Master’s Degree Schools in Illinois list, coming in at #2.

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Best Value Criminal Justice & Corrections Colleges in the Great Lakes Region

Explore all the Best Value Criminal Justice & Corrections Schools in the Great Lakes Area or other specific states within that region.

State Degrees Awarded
Michigan 2,094
Ohio 2,805
Indiana 2,249
Wisconsin 1,134

Criminal Justice & Corrections is one of 4 different types of programs to choose from.

Related Major Annual Graduates
Fire Protection 13,766
Homeland Security 7,140
Security Science and Technology 6,888
Other Homeland Security 1,695

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 10 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).

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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