If you plan on majoring in general education, you won't be alone since the degree program is ranked #41 in the country in terms of popularity. This means you won't have too much trouble finding schools that offer the degree.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 3 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best General Education Schools in Illinois ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 600 degrees in general education annually.
The education program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for General Education rankings. In order to come up with a best overall ranking for general education schools, we combine our degree-level rankings, weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each level.
In order to find the schools that are the best fit for you, you may want to filter to one of the degree levels below.
Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best General Education Schools in Illinois ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.
You can also filter this list by location to find schools closer to you.
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.
When you have some time, check it out - you may want to bookmark the link so you don't forget it.
The schools below may not offer all types of education degrees so you may want to filter by degree level first. However, they are great for the degree levels they do offer.
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is a wonderful decision for students interested in a degree in general education. UIUC is a very large public university located in the small city of Champaign. A Best Colleges rank of #41 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means UIUC is a great university overall.
There were approximately 282 general education students who graduated with this degree at UIUC in the most recent data year. Degree recipients from the general education degree program at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign get $6,996 more than the standard college graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.
It is difficult to beat Greenville University if you wish to pursue a degree in general education. Located in the town of Greenville, Greenville is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population. This university ranks 65th out of 85 schools for overall quality in the state of Illinois.
There were approximately 42 general education students who graduated with this degree at Greenville in the most recent year we have data available.
Enhance your career as a teacher or administrator or prepare to advance to a leadership position within your school with this specialized online MEd from Southern New Hampshire University.
Any student pursuing a degree in general education needs to look into Western Illinois University. Located in the town of Macomb, WIU is a public university with a moderately-sized student population. This university ranks 37th out of 85 colleges for overall quality in the state of Illinois.
There were roughly 16 general education students who graduated with this degree at WIU in the most recent year we have data available.
The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
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).
The education program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for General Education rankings. In order to come up with a best overall ranking for general education schools, we combine our degree-level rankings, weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each level.
