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Best Value General Education Bachelor's Degree Schools in Illinois

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2023 Best Value General Education Bachelor's Degree Schools in Illinois

Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing

10 Colleges
$37,619 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$35,282 Avg Salary

Finding the Best General Education Bachelor's Degree School for You

In 2020-2021, general education students earned 453 degrees and certificates from an Illinois school, making the subject the 6th in the state.

When it comes to higher education, there are a lot of options for teaching students. 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 General Education Bachelor's Degree Schools in Illinois ranking is one of many tools that Teaching Degree Search has developed to help you make your educational decision. This report analyzed 10 schools in Illinois to see which ones offered the best value bachelor's degree programs for education students. The goal was to highlight schools with more affordable prices than others offering similar quality experiences.

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.

2023 Best Value General Education Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois

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

Top 10 Best General Education Bachelor's Degree Schools

Our analysis found University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to be the best value school for general education students who want to pursue a bachelor’s degree in Illinois. UIUC is a fairly large public school located in the city of Champaign.

UIUC undergraduate students pay an average of $17,634 in in-state tuition and fees each 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 education in Illinois.

Read full report on General Education at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

#2

Trinity Christian College

Palos Heights, IL

The excellent bachelor’s degree programs at Trinity Christian College helped the school earn the #2 place on this year’s ranking of the best value general education schools in Illinois. Trinity Christian is a small private not-for-profit school located in the suburb of Palos Heights.

Trinity Christian undergraduate students pay an average of $33,275 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Read More…

#3

Dominican University

River Forest, IL

A rank of #3 on this year’s list means Dominican University is a great value for general education students working on their bachelor’s degree. Dominican U is a small private not-for-profit school located in the large suburb of River Forest.

Dominican U undergraduate students pay an average of $35,420 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Full General Education at Dominican University Report

#4

Elmhurst University

Elmhurst, IL

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Elmhurst University. It ranked #4 on our 2023 Best Value General Education Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois list. Elmhurst is a small private not-for-profit school located in the suburb of Elmhurst.

Elmhurst undergraduate students pay an average of $39,400 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Read More…

#5

Illinois Wesleyan University

Bloomington, IL

Out of the 10 schools in Illinois that were part of this year’s ranking, Illinois Wesleyan University landed the # 5 spot on the list. Located in the city of Bloomington, Illinois Wesleyan is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.

Illinois Wesleyan undergraduate students pay an average of $52,512 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

In addition to its great value ranking, Illinois Wesleyan is in the top 20% of all schools on our Best General Education Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois list.

Read full report on General Education at Illinois Wesleyan University

#6

Concordia University, Chicago

River Forest, IL

Concordia University, Chicago ranked #6 on this year’s Best Value General Education Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois list. Located in the large suburb of River Forest, Concordia University, Chicago is a private not-for-profit school with a moderately-sized student population.

In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at Concordia University, Chicago are $34,310 per year.

Read More…

#7

Monmouth College

Monmouth, IL

With a ranking of #7, Monmouth College did quite well on this year’s best value schools for general education students working on their bachelor’s degree. Monmouth is a fairly small private not-for-profit school located in the town of Monmouth.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at Monmouth are $41,390 a year.

Full General Education at Monmouth College Report

#8

McKendree University

Lebanon, IL

McKendree University came in at #8 in this year’s edition of the Best Value General Education Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois ranking. Located in the large suburb of Lebanon, McKendree is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.

McKendree undergraduate students pay an average of $33,050 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

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#9

Roosevelt University

Chicago, IL

Roosevelt University came in at #9 in this year’s edition of the Best Value General Education Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois ranking. Roosevelt is a small private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Chicago.

Roosevelt undergraduate students pay an average of $31,493 in in-state tuition and fees each year. The average amount in student loans that education majors at Roosevelt take out while working on their Bachelor's Degree is $28,396.

Read More…

#10

Knox College

Galesburg, IL

With a ranking of #10, Knox College did quite well on this year’s best value schools for general education students working on their bachelor’s degree. Knox is a small private not-for-profit school located in the distant town of Galesburg.

Knox undergraduate students pay an average of $51,576 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Read More…

Best Value General Education Colleges in the Great Lakes Region

Explore all the Best Value General Education Colleges in the Great Lakes Area or other specific states within that region.

State Degrees Awarded
Ohio 706
Indiana 502
Michigan 700
Wisconsin 515

One of 14 majors within the teaching area of study, general education has other similar majors worth exploring.

Education Concentrations

Major Annual Graduates
General Education 29,810

Majors Similar to Education

Related Major Annual Graduates
Teacher Education Grade Specific 110,226
Educational Administration 46,469
Teacher Education Subject Specific 43,297
Special Education 36,792
Curriculum & Instruction 19,832

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).
  • Credit for the banner image above goes to KOKUYO.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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