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Best Value Music Master's Degree Schools in Illinois

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2023 Best Value Music Master's Degree Schools in Illinois

Identifying Quality Schools at More Affordable Prices

11 Colleges
$16,923 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$27,036 Avg Salary

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.

2023 Best Value Music Master’s Degree Schools in Illinois

The colleges and universities below are the best value schools for music majors pursuing a master's degree.

Top 10 Best Music Master's Degree Schools

Our analysis found Columbia College Chicago to be the best value school for music students who want to pursue a master’s degree in Illinois. Located in the city of Chicago, Columbia is a private not-for-profit school with a medium-sized student population.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at Columbia are $2,350 per year.

Read full report on Music at Columbia College Chicago

#2

Eastern Illinois University

Charleston, IL

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 distant town of Charleston, EIU is a public school with a medium-sized student population.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at EIU are $10,640 per year.

Read full report on Music at Eastern Illinois University

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend Illinois State University. The school came in at #3 on this year’s Best Value Music Master’s Degree Schools in Illinois list. Illinois State is a fairly large public school located in the 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.

Full Music at Illinois State University Report

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend Western Illinois University. The school came in at #4 on this year’s Best Value Music Master’s Degree Schools in Illinois list. Located in the town of Macomb, WIU is a public school with a moderately-sized student population.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at WIU are $12,182 a year.

Full Music at Western Illinois University Report

The excellent master’s degree programs at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville helped the school earn the #5 place on this year’s ranking of the best value music schools in Illinois. SIUE is a large public school located in the suburb of Edwardsville.

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

Read full report on Music at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville

Northern Illinois University ranked #6 on this year’s Best Value Music Master’s Degree Schools in Illinois list. NIU is a 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.

Full Music at Northern Illinois University Report

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign landed the #7 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value master’s degree music programs. Located in the city of Champaign, UIUC is a public college with a fairly large student population.

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 music in Illinois.

Full Music at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Report

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 small city of Carbondale.

SIUC graduate students pay an average of $16,162 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Read More…

#9

Roosevelt University

Chicago, IL

Roosevelt University did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for music students to get a master’s degree. It came in at #9 on the list. Located in the large city of Chicago, Roosevelt is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at Roosevelt are $21,605 per year.

Full Music at Roosevelt University Report

#10

DePaul University

Chicago, IL

DePaul University did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for music students to get a master’s degree. It came in at #10 on the list. Located in the city of Chicago, DePaul is a private not-for-profit school with a very large student population.

DePaul graduate students pay an average of $18,341 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Full Music at DePaul University Report

Best 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

One of 10 majors within the area of study, music has other similar majors worth exploring.

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.

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