2023 Best Value Music Master's Degree Schools in Illinois
Identifying Quality Schools at More Affordable Prices
Finding the Best Music Master's Degree School for You
Music is the #33 most popular major in Illinois with 1,129 degrees and certificates awarded in 2020-2021.
There are lots of options to pick from today when trying to decide which program is right for you. As online education oppotunities continue to grow, you're not restricted to just schools in your local area anymore. Even some of the 'big name' schools are offering online courses. Also, there are a number of trade schools with offerings that you might find attractive.
Along with in-depth profiles of schools and the programs they offer, Course Advisor has created the Best Value Music Master's Degree Schools in Illinois to help you in your search for the best school for you. Our analysis looked at 11 schools in Illinois to see which master's degree programs offered the best value experiences for music students with the aim of identifying those quality schools that are more affordable than some of their counterparts.
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. More specifically, we discount our quality score by the published tuition and fees charged by a school. This gives the cost per unit of quality for each college. The value is determined by how much quality your dollar buys.
Our calculations use out-of-state tuition and fees in our nationwide and regional rankings. Average in-state tuition and fees are used for our statewide rankings.
Top 10 Best Music Master's Degree Schools
Our 2023 rankings named Columbia College Chicago the best value school in Illinois for music students working on their master’s degree. Located in the city of Chicago, Columbia is a private not-for-profit college with a medium-sized student population.
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 Eastern Illinois University. The school came in at #2 on this year’s Best Value Music Master’s Degree Schools in Illinois list. Located in the town of Charleston, EIU is a public school with a moderately-sized student population.
EIU graduate students pay an average of $10,640 in in-state tuition and fees each year.
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You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Illinois State University. It ranked #3 on our 2023 Best Value Music Master’s Degree Schools in Illinois list. Illinois State is a fairly large public school located in the midsize suburb of Normal.
In-state tuition fees for graduate students at Illinois State are $9,773 per year.
In addition to its best value ranking, and one of the reasons why the school is on the list, Illinois State is ranked #5 for overall quality for music in Illinois.
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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 music schools in Illinois. Located in the town of Macomb, WIU is a public college with a medium-sized student population.
WIU graduate students pay an average of $12,182 in in-state tuition and fees each year.
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You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. It ranked #5 on our 2023 Best Value Music Master’s Degree Schools in Illinois list. SIUE is a fairly large public school located in the suburb of Edwardsville.
The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at SIUE are $9,316 a year.
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Northern Illinois University landed the #6 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value master’s degree music programs. NIU is a fairly large public school located in the suburb of Dekalb.
NIU graduate students pay an average of $11,390 in in-state tuition and fees each year.
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University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign came in at #7 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Music Master’s Degree Schools in Illinois ranking. Located in the small city of Champaign, UIUC is a public school with a fairly large student population.
UIUC graduate students pay an average of $17,823 in in-state tuition and fees each year.
UIUC did well in our overall quality rankings, too. It placed #3 on our Best Music Master’s Degree Schools in Illinois list.
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Southern Illinois University Carbondale came in at #8 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Music Master’s Degree Schools in Illinois ranking. SIUC is a large public school located in the city of Carbondale.
SIUC graduate students pay an average of $16,162 in in-state tuition and fees each year.
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Roosevelt University came in at #9 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Music Master’s Degree Schools in Illinois ranking. Located in the large city of Chicago, Roosevelt is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.
The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at Roosevelt are $21,605 a year.
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DePaul University ranked #10 on this year’s Best Value Music Master’s Degree Schools in Illinois list. Located in the large city of Chicago, DePaul is a private not-for-profit school with a very large student population.
In-state tuition fees for graduate students at DePaul are $18,341 per year.
Full Music at DePaul University Report
Request InformationBest Value Music Colleges in the Great Lakes Region
Explore all the Best Value Music Schools in the Great Lakes Area or other specific states within that region.
| State | Degrees Awarded |
|---|---|
| Michigan | 734 |
| Ohio | 1,138 |
| Indiana | 660 |
| Wisconsin | 359 |
More Music Rankings in Illinois
Other Related Music Programs
Learn about start dates, transferring credits, availability of financial aid, and more by contacting the universities below.
Earn the music business degree that fits into the business world – and partners Southern New Hampshire University with world-renowned Berklee College of Music.
Music Related Majors for Music
One of 10 majors within the area of study, music has other similar majors worth exploring.
Most Popular Related Majors
| Related Major | Annual Graduates |
|---|---|
| Fine & Studio Arts | 37,413 |
| Design & Applied Arts | 36,301 |
| Drama & Theater Arts | 17,341 |
| Film, Video & Photographic Arts | 16,778 |
| General Visual & Performing Arts | 6,355 |
Notes and References
*These averages are for the top 11 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.