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Best Value General Education Master's Degree Schools in Illinois

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

Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing

9 Colleges
$20,992 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$50,291 Avg Salary

Finding the Best General Education Master'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.

Along with in-depth profiles of schools and the programs they offer, Teaching Degree Search has created the Best Value General Education 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 education 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.

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

Check out the education master's degree programs at these schools if you want to get the best value for your educational dollar.

Best Illinois Schools for Affordable Quality for a Master's in General Education

#1

McKendree University

Lebanon, IL

Our analysis found McKendree University to be the best value school for general education students who want to pursue a master’s degree in Illinois. Located in the suburb of Lebanon, McKendree is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at McKendree are $9,756 a year.

Full General Education at McKendree University Report

The excellent master’s degree programs at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign helped the school earn the #2 place on this year’s ranking of the best value general education schools in Illinois. UIUC is a very large public school located in the city of Champaign.

UIUC graduate students pay an average of $17,823 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

UIUC also took the #4 spot in our Best General Education Master’s Degree Schools in Illinois rankings.

Full General Education at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Report

#3

Concordia University, Chicago

River Forest, IL

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend Concordia University, Chicago. The school came in at #3 on this year’s Best Value General Education Master’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 graduate students at Concordia University, Chicago are $9,378 per year.

Full General Education at Concordia University, Chicago Report

Out of the 9 schools in Illinois that were part of this year’s ranking, Western Illinois University landed the # 4 spot on the list. WIU is a medium-sized public school located in the remote town of Macomb.

WIU graduate students pay an average of $12,182 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Full General Education at Western Illinois University Report

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend Northern Illinois University. The school came in at #5 on this year’s Best Value General Education Master’s Degree Schools in Illinois list. Located in the small suburb of Dekalb, NIU is a public college with a fairly large student population.

NIU graduate students pay an average of $11,390 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Read More…

#6

North Park University

Chicago, IL

North Park University did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for general education students to get a master’s degree. It came in at #6 on the list. North Park is a small private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Chicago.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at North Park are $14,184 a year.

Read More…

#7

Rockford University

Rockford, IL

Rockford University ranked #7 on this year’s Best Value General Education Master’s Degree Schools in Illinois list. Rockford is a small private not-for-profit school located in the midsize city of Rockford.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at Rockford are $13,615 a year.

Read full report on General Education at Rockford University

#8

Elmhurst University

Elmhurst, IL

Elmhurst University ranked #8 on this year’s Best Value General Education Master’s Degree Schools in Illinois list. Elmhurst is a small private not-for-profit school located in the large suburb of Elmhurst.

Elmhurst graduate students pay an average of $32,800 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Read full report on General Education at Elmhurst University

#9

Northwestern University

Evanston, IL

Northwestern University ranked #9 on this year’s Best Value General Education Master’s Degree Schools in Illinois list. Northwestern is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the small city of Evanston.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at Northwestern are $56,567 per year.

Northwestern did well in our overall quality rankings, too. It placed #1 on our Best General Education Master’s Degree Schools in Illinois list.

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 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 KOKUYO.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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