2023 Best Specialized Sales, Merchandising & Marketing Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Veterans in Illinois

When it comes to choosing a college, veterans have a lot of options - but not all of them are good. College Factual has developed its “Most Veteran Friendly in Illinois for Specialized Marketing for a Bachelor’s” ranking as one item you can use to help make this decision.

Specialized Sales, Merchandising & Marketing is the 138th most popular major in the country with 5,191 degrees awarded in 2020-2021. In 2019-2020, specialized sales, merchandising and marketing graduates who were awarded their degree in 2017-2019, earned an average of $33,431 and had an average of $30,391 in loans still to pay off.

Across Illinois, there were 44 specialized sales, merchandising and marketing graduates with average earnings and debt of $27,895 and $30,992 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 22 specialized sales, merchandising and marketing graduates with average earnings and debt of $40,117 and $25,584 respectively.

This year’s “Most Veteran Friendly in Illinois for Specialized Marketing for a Bachelor’s” ranking analyzed 3 colleges that offered a degree in specialized sales, merchandising and marketing. Not only do the schools that top this list have excellent specialized sales, merchandising and marketing programs, but they also offer a lot of support to veterans and active service members.

To come up with these rankings, we looked at factors such as veteran satisfaction, veteran affordability, and overall quality of the specialized sales, merchandising and marketing program at the school. See our ranking methodology to learn more.

More Ways to Rank Specialized Sales, Merchandising & Marketing Schools

Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we’ve developed the “Most Veteran Friendly in Illinois for Specialized Marketing for a Bachelor’s” ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.

In addition to College Factual’s rankings, you may want to take a look at College Combat, our unique tool that lets you pit your favorite schools head-to-head and compare how they rate on factors that most interest you. Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.

Most Veteran Friendly in Illinois for Specialized Marketing for a Bachelor’s

The following schools top our list of the Best “Most Veteran Friendly in Illinois for Specialized Marketing for a Bachelor’s”.

Top 3 Best Specialized Sales, Merchandising & Marketing Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Veterans in Illinois

1

Western Illinois University
Macomb, Illinois

330 GI Bill® Students**

#2 in overall quality

YES Student Veterans Organization

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Western Illinois University. The school came in at #1 for the Most Veteran Friendly in Illinois for Specialized Marketing for a Bachelor’s. This medium-sized school is located in Macomb, Illinois, and it awarded 6 bachelors’s specialized marketing degrees in 2020-2021.

WIU also took the #2 spot in our “Best Specialized Sales, Merchandising & Marketing Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” ranking.Of the 7,490 students enrolled at Western Illinois University, 330 were GI Bill® students, according to our most recent data. Out of that number, 62 were Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients. The average tuition and fees award for the Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients was $4,652. During this same period, 0 students qualified for the Yellow Ribbon Program. Eligible students may be able to receive credit for their military training.

[Read full report on veteran student life at WIU]](/colleges/western-illinois-university/student-life/veterans/)

2

Dominican University
River Forest, Illinois

37 GI Bill® Students**

#1 in overall quality

$12,038 Average GI Bill® Award

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Dominican University. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Most Veteran Friendly in Illinois for Specialized Marketing for a Bachelor’s list. Located in River Forest, Illinois, this small private not-for-profit school awarded 13 diplomas to qualified bachelors’s specialized marketing students in 2020-2021.

Dominican U also made our “Best Specialized Sales, Merchandising & Marketing Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” list, coming in at #1.Among the 3,189 students enrolled at Dominican University, 37 are GI Bill® students, according to our most recent data. Out of that number, 17 were Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients. The average tuition and fees award for the Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients was $12,038. On top of their other funding sources, 2 students received scholarships through the Yellow Ribbon Program. Students may be able to receive credit for their military training, depending on their background.

Since the school has a undergrad student-to-faculty ratio of 10 to 1, those pursuing a degree will have more opportunities to interact with their professors. The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only [DEFAULT_RATE_STRING]%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.

[Read full report on veteran student life at Dominican U]](/colleges/dominican-university/student-life/veterans/)

3

Eastern Illinois University
Charleston, Illinois

184 GI Bill® Students**

#3 in overall quality

YES Student Veterans Organization

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Eastern Illinois University. The school came in at #3 for the Most Veteran Friendly in Illinois for Specialized Marketing for a Bachelor’s. Charleston, Illinois is the setting for this medium-sized institution of higher learning. The public school handed out bachelors’s specialized marketing degrees to 2 students in 2020-2021.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at EIU, the school also landed the #3 spot in our “Best Specialized Sales, Merchandising & Marketing Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” ranking.According to our most recent data, Eastern Illinois University supports 8,626 students, and 184 of those are GI Bill® students, of which 46 are Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients. The average Post-9/11 GI Bill® award for tuition and fees at the school was $4,730. In addition to receiving other benefits, 0 students received funds through the Yellow Ribbon Program. Eastern Illinois University offers credit for military training for eligible students.

Full EIU Veteran Student Life Report

• Best Specialized Sales, Merchandising & Marketing Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Veterans in the Great Lakes Region
• Best Specialized Sales, Merchandising & Marketing Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Veterans

Notes and References

References

• 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 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).
• Veteran-specific data can be found at the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs.
• Information about the national average student loan default rate is from the U.S. Department of Education and refers to data about the 2016 borrower cohort tracking period for which the cohort default rate (CDR) was 10.1%.

Read more about our data sources and methodologies

Footnotes

• *Avg Salary and Avg 4-Year Grad Rate are for the top schools only.
• **GI Bill® student total includes all chapters of the GI Bill® program (e.g., Post-9/11, Montgomery GI Bill, Reserve Education Assistance Program, and Veteran Readiness and Employment)
• Some schools otherwise deserving of recognition may have been removed from this ranking in the event that new data identified post-publication warranted it, or at the request of the school.

Credits

• Credit for the banner image above goes to Qfamily.