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2022 Best Value Communication Arts Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Getting Aid

7 Ranked Colleges
471 Degrees Awarded
$19,200 Avg Net Price*
Best Value Communication Arts Schools for a Bachelor's in Illinois For Those Getting Aid

Students have lots of options to chooose from today when trying to decide which college to attend. One of our goals at College Factual is to give you as much information as we can - such as our “Best Value Communication Arts Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Getting Aid” ranking - to help you make that decision.

In 2019-2020, 11,861 people earned their degree in communications, making the major the 65th most popular in the United States.

Across Illinois, there were 517 communications graduates with average earnings and debt of $0 and $0 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 471 communications graduates with average earnings and debt of $38,319 and $24,183 respectively.

For this year’s “Best Value Communication Arts Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Getting Aid” ranking, we looked at 7 colleges that offer a degree in communications. This ranking identifies schools with high-quality communications programs that also have a lower cost than schools of similar quality.

Some of the factors we look at when determining these rankings are overall quality of the communications program at the school and the cost of the school after aid is awarded among other things. For more information, check out our ranking methodology.

One Size Does Not Fit All

Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we’ve developed the “Best Value Communication Arts Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Getting Aid” ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.

One of our other unique offerings is College Combat. This tool lets you build your own customized comparisons utilizing the factors that are most important to you. If you’re torn between two schools, you can use it to help you see how they stack up against one another. Bookmark it so you can compare any new schools that might interest you.

Best Value Communication Arts Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Getting Aid

The following schools top our list of the Best Best Value Communication Arts Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Getting Aid.

Top 7 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Communications in Illinois (With Aid)

#1 in overall quality

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. It ranked #1 on our 2022 Best Value Communication Arts Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Getting Aid list. Located in Champaign, Illinois, this large public school awarded 279 diplomas to qualified bachelors’s communication arts students in 2019-2020.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at UIUC, the school also landed the #1 spot in our “Best Communications Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for UIUC is $15,880 for Illinois Bachelor’s Degree Communication Arts students with aid.

The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 94%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year. The student loan default rate at the school is 2.4%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

Full UIUC Communications Report

#2 in overall quality

Out of the 7 schools in the Best Value Communication Arts Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Getting Aid that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Illinois at Chicago landed the #2 spot on the list. This large school is located in Chicago, Illinois, and it awarded 86 bachelors’s communication arts degrees in 2019-2020.

UIC not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #2 on our “Best Communications Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” list. The yearly cost to attend University of Illinois at Chicago is $13,312 for Illinois Bachelor’s Degree Communication Arts students with aid.

The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 3.4%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.

Read more about Communications at University of Illinois at Chicago

#5 in overall quality

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of Illinois at Springfield. It ranked #3 on our 2022 Best Value Communication Arts Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Getting Aid list. UIS is a small school located in Springfield, Illinois that handed out 32 bachelors’s communication arts degrees in 2019-2020.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at UIS, the school also landed the #5 spot in our “Best Communications Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” ranking. It costs about $12,477 for Illinois Bachelor’s Degree Communication Arts students with aid per year to attend University of Illinois at Springfield.

Read full report on Communications at UIS

#4

Eastern Illinois University

Charleston, Illinois
#4 in overall quality

Out of the 7 schools in the Best Value Communication Arts Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Getting Aid that were part of this year’s ranking, Eastern Illinois University landed the #4 spot on the list. Charleston, Illinois is the setting for this medium-sized institution of higher learning. The public school handed out bachelors’s communication arts degrees to 41 students in 2019-2020.

EIU did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #4 on our “Best Communications Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” list. The estimated yearly cost for Eastern Illinois University is $14,607 for illinois bachelor’s degree communication arts students with aid.

Read full report on Communications at EIU

#5

Bradley University

Peoria, Illinois
#3 in overall quality

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Bradley University. It ranked #5 on our 2022 Best Value Communication Arts Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Getting Aid list. Bradley is a medium-sized school located in Peoria, Illinois that handed out 1 bachelors’s communication arts degrees in 2019-2020.

Bradley did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #3 on our “Best Communications Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” list. The estimated yearly cost for Bradley is $25,634 for illinois bachelor’s degree communication arts students with aid.

The student loan default rate at the school is 2.5%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%. With a freshman retention rate of 86%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students.

Read full report on Communications at Bradley

#6

Eureka College

Eureka, Illinois
#7 in overall quality

Eureka College came in at #6 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Communication Arts Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Getting Aid ranking. Located in Eureka, Illinois, this small private not-for-profit school handed out 5 degrees to qualified bachelors’s communication arts students in 2019-2020.

Eureka College also made our “Best Communications Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” list, coming in at #7. The yearly cost to attend Eureka College is $21,344 for illinois bachelor’s degree communication arts students with aid.

Read full report on Communications at Eureka College

#7

Columbia College Chicago

Chicago, Illinois
#6 in overall quality

Columbia College Chicago landed the #7 spot on the 2022 Best Value Communication Arts Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Getting Aid ranking. Columbia is a medium-sized school located in Chicago, Illinois that handed out 8 bachelors’s communication arts degrees in 2019-2020.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at Columbia, the school also landed the #6 spot in our “Best Communications Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for Columbia College Chicago is $31,099 for Illinois Bachelor’s Degree Communication Arts students with aid.

Read full report on Communications at Columbia College Chicago

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).
  • 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

  • *Average salary, average net price, and average tuition and fees are for the top schools only.
  • 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

Featured Communications / Public Relations Schools

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