2023 Best Value Drama & Theater Arts Master's Degree Schools in Illinois
Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing
Finding the Best Drama & Theater Arts Master's Degree School for You
In 2020-2021, 855 degrees and certificates were awarded to drama and theater arts students who went to a Illinois college or university. This makes it the #47 most popular major in the state.
It's not easy to decide which program to enroll in when you have so many options available. With more and more schools offering online options, you could even register for a great program on the other side of the country. On top of that, there are a considerable number of trade schools that offer fast-track entry to many fields.
Along with in-depth profiles of schools and the programs they offer, Course Advisor has created the Best Value Drama & Theater Arts 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 theater students with the aim of identifying those quality schools that are more affordable than some of their counterparts.
Our ranking of value is based on the quality of a program as defined in our per sticker price dollar. 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.
In our regional and nationwide rankings, out-of-state tution and fees are used 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 Drama & Theater Arts
Our 2023 rankings named Columbia College Chicago the best value school in Illinois for drama and theater arts students working on their master’s degree. Columbia is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Chicago.
In-state tuition fees for graduate students at Columbia are $2,350 per year.
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You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend Illinois State University. The school came in at #2 on this year’s Best Value Drama & Theater Arts Master’s Degree Schools in Illinois list. Located in the medium-sized suburb of Normal, Illinois State is a public college with a very large student population.
In-state tuition fees for graduate students at Illinois State are $9,773 per year.
Illinois State also took the #5 spot in our Best Drama & Theater Arts Master’s Degree Schools in Illinois rankings.
Full Drama & Theater Arts at Illinois State University Report
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You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Northern Illinois University. It ranked #3 on our 2023 Best Value Drama & Theater Arts Master’s Degree Schools in Illinois list. Located in the small suburb of Dekalb, NIU is a public school with a fairly large student population.
NIU graduate students pay an average of $11,390 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 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The school came in at #4 on this year’s Best Value Drama & Theater Arts Master’s Degree Schools in Illinois list. 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.
In addition to its best value ranking, and one of the reasons why the school is on the list, UIUC is ranked #3 for overall quality for theater in Illinois.
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Out of the 9 schools in Illinois that were part of this year’s ranking, Western Illinois University landed the # 5 spot on the list. WIU is a medium-sized public school located in the town of Macomb.
The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at WIU are $12,182 a year.
Full Drama & Theater Arts at Western Illinois University Report
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Southern Illinois University Carbondale did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for drama and theater arts students to get a master’s degree. It came in at #6 on the list. Located in the city of Carbondale, SIUC is a public school with a large student population.
SIUC graduate students pay an average of $16,162 in in-state tuition and fees each year.
Full Drama & Theater Arts at Southern Illinois University Carbondale Report
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With a ranking of #7, DePaul University did quite well on this year’s best value schools for drama and theater arts students working on their master’s degree. DePaul is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Chicago.
In-state tuition fees for graduate students at DePaul are $18,341 per year.
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Roosevelt University came in at #8 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Drama & Theater Arts Master’s Degree Schools in Illinois ranking. Roosevelt is a small private not-for-profit school located in the city of Chicago.
In-state tuition fees for graduate students at Roosevelt are $21,605 per year.
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Northwestern University came in at #9 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Drama & Theater Arts Master’s Degree Schools in Illinois ranking. 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 not only placed well in our value ranking, but it is also #1 on our Best Drama & Theater Arts Master’s Degree Schools in Illinois list.
Read full report on Drama & Theater Arts at Northwestern University
Request InformationBest Value Drama & Theater Arts Colleges in the Great Lakes Region
Explore all the Best Value Drama & Theater Arts Colleges in the Great Lakes Area or other specific states within that region.
| State | Degrees Awarded |
|---|---|
| Michigan | 364 |
| Ohio | 523 |
| Indiana | 315 |
| Wisconsin | 259 |
More Drama & Theater Arts Rankings in Illinois
Drama & Theater Arts Related Majors for Theater
One of 10 majors within the area of study, drama and theater arts has other similar majors worth exploring.
Most Popular Related Majors
| Related Major | Annual Graduates |
|---|---|
| Fine & Studio Arts | 37,413 |
| Design & Applied Arts | 36,301 |
| Music | 25,910 |
| Film, Video & Photographic Arts | 16,778 |
| General Visual & Performing Arts | 6,355 |
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 Donald Judge.
More about our data sources and methodologies.