2025 Best Student Counseling Master's Degree Schools in Illinois
Student Counseling is of the hottest master's degree programs in the United States, coming in as the #20 most popular major in the country. So, there are lots of possibilities to explore when you're trying to determine where you want to get your degree.
For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 11 schools in Illinois to determine which ones were the best for student counseling students pursuing a master's degree. Combined, these schools handed out 323 master's degrees in student counseling to qualified students.
Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology
Choosing a Great Student Counseling School for Your Master's Degree
Your choice of student counseling for getting your master's degree school matters. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:
Overall Quality Is a Must
A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. To make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges for a Master's Degree ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.
Average Early-Career Salaries
Average early-career salary of those graduating with their master's degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. After all, your master's degree won't mean much if it doesn't help you find a job that will help you earn a living.
Other Factors We Consider
In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:
- Major Focus - How many resources a school devotes to student counseling students as compared to other majors.
- Major Demand - The number of student counseling students who choose to seek a master's degree at the school.
- Educational Resources - The amount of money and other resources allocated to students while they are pursuing their degree. These resources include such things as number of students per instructor and education expenditures per student.
- Student Debt - How much debt student counseling students go into to obtain their master's degree and how well they are able to pay back that debt.
- Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized student counseling related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for student counseling students working on their master's degree.
More Ways to Rank Student Counseling Schools
When choosing the right school for you, it's important to arm yourself with all the facts you can. To that end, we've created a number of major-specific rankings, including this Best Student Counseling Master's Degree Schools in Illinois list to help you make the college decision.
Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Student Counseling in Illinois
The following list ranks the best colleges and universities for pursuing a master's degree in student counseling.
10 Top Illinois Schools for a Master's in Student Counseling
It's hard to beat Concordia University, Chicago if you want to pursue a master's degree in student counseling. Concordia University, Chicago is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit university located in the large suburb of River Forest.
Student Counseling master's degree recipients from Concordia University, Chicago earn a boost of around $19,006 over the typical income of student counseling graduates.
More information about a master’s in student counseling from Concordia University, Chicago
Any student pursuing a degree in a master's degree in student counseling has to check out DePaul University. Located in the city of Chicago, DePaul is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.
Students who graduate with their master's from the student counseling program report average early career income of $52,699.
More information about a master’s in student counseling from DePaul University
Loyola University Chicago is a good option for students interested in a master's degree in student counseling. Located in the large city of Chicago, Loyola Chicago is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.More information about a master’s in student counseling from Loyola University Chicago
It is hard to beat Western Illinois University if you want to pursue a master's degree in student counseling. WIU is a moderately-sized public university located in the town of Macomb.
Soon after graduation, student counseling master's recipients usually make an average of $42,905 in their early careers.
More information about a master’s in student counseling from Western Illinois University
NIU is a large public university located in the small suburb of Dekalb.
Master's students who receive their degree from the student counseling program make around $52,167 in the first couple years of their career.
More information about a master’s in student counseling from Northern Illinois University
