4
Ranked Colleges
172
Degrees Awarded
$32,200
Avg Cost*
When pursuing a degree in today’s world, veterans have many different options to choose from. College Factual was founded, in part, to help students make the decision as to what would be the best school for them. Our “Most Veteran Friendly in Illinois for Engineering-Related Fields” ranking is part of that endeavor.
Engineering-Related Fields is the 112th most popular major in the country with 6,736 degrees awarded in 2020-2021. In 2019-2020, engineering-related fields graduates who were awarded their degree in 2017-2019, earned an average of $77,404 and had an average of $26,200 in loans still to pay off.
Across Illinois, there were 172 engineering-related fields graduates with average earnings and debt of $85,668 and $35,501 respectively.
This year’s “Most Veteran Friendly in Illinois for Engineering-Related Fields” ranking looked at 4 colleges that offer degrees in a bachelor’s in engineering-related fields. This ranking identifies schools with high-quality engineering-related fields programs as well as strong veteran support.
To come up with these rankings, we looked at factors such as veteran satisfaction, veteran affordability, and overall quality of the engineering-related fields program at the school. Check out our ranking methodology for more information.
One Size Does Not Fit All
The engineering-related fields school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we’ve developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of “Most Veteran Friendly in Illinois for Engineering-Related Fields”.
To further help you make the college decision, we’ve developed a unique tool called College Combat that allows you to compare schools based on the factors that matter the most to you. Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.
The following schools top our list of the Best “Most Veteran Friendly in Illinois for Engineering-Related Fields”.
You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The school came in at #1 for the Most Veteran Friendly in Illinois for Engineering-Related Fields. UIUC is located in Champaign, Illinois and, has a large student population. In 2020-2021, this school awarded 62 ’s engineering-related fields degrees to qualified students.
As a testament to the quality of education offered at UIUC, the school also landed the #[COLLEGE_QUALITY_RANK_ALL_LEVELS] spot in our “[COLLEGE_QUALITY_NAME_ALL_LEVELS]” ranking.Our most recent data shows that 10 of the 52,679 students enrolled at UIUC were GI Bill® students, of which 0 were Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients. The average tuition and fees award for the Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients was $0. During this same period, 0 students received scholarships through the Yellow Ribbon Program. UIUC does offer credit for military training for eligible students.
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 low undergrad student loan default rate of [DEFAULT_RATE_STRING]% is a good sign that students have an easier time paying off their loans than they might at other schools. For comparison, the national default rate is 10.1%.
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You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Illinois Institute of Technology. The school came in at #2 for the Most Veteran Friendly in Illinois for Engineering-Related Fields. Illinois Tech is a medium-sized private not-for-profit school situated in Chicago, Illinois. It awarded 58 ’s engineering-related fields degrees in 2020-2021.
Illinois Tech not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #[COLLEGE_QUALITY_RANK_ALL_LEVELS] on our “[COLLEGE_QUALITY_NAME_ALL_LEVELS]” list.Of the 6,325 students enrolled at Illinois Tech, 83 were GI Bill® students, according to our most recent data. Out of that number, 52 were Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients. The average tuition and fees award for the Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients was $14,905. To help with additional expenses, 14 students qualified for the Yellow Ribbon Program. Eligible students may be able to receive credit for their military training.
With a freshman retention rate of 87%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its undergraduate students. 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 Illinois Institute of Technology]](/colleges/illinois-institute-of-technology/student-life/veterans/)
Out of the 4 schools in the Most Veteran Friendly in Illinois for Engineering-Related Fields that were part of this year’s ranking, Northwestern University landed the #3 spot on the list. Northwestern is a large private not-for-profit school situated in Evanston, Illinois. It awarded 33 ’s engineering-related fields degrees in 2020-2021.
Northwestern also made our “[COLLEGE_QUALITY_NAME_ALL_LEVELS]” list, coming in at #[COLLEGE_QUALITY_RANK_ALL_LEVELS].Of the 22,603 students enrolled at Northwestern, 1 were GI Bill® students, according to our most recent data. Out of that number, 1 were Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients. The average tuition and fees award for the Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients was $399. On top of their other funding sources, 0 students qualified for the Yellow Ribbon Program.
The impressive undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio of 6 to 1 means that students may have more opportunities to work more closely with their professors than they would at other schools. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 97%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year. 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 More…
You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Northern Illinois University. The school came in at #4 for the Most Veteran Friendly in Illinois for Engineering-Related Fields. NIU is a fairly large school located in Dekalb, Illinois that handed out 19 ’s engineering-related fields degrees in 2020-2021.
NIU did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #[COLLEGE_QUALITY_RANK_ALL_LEVELS] on our “[COLLEGE_QUALITY_NAME_ALL_LEVELS]” list.Of the 16,769 students enrolled at NIU, 480 were GI Bill® students, according to our most recent data. Out of that number, 207 were Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients. The average tuition and fees award for the Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients was $7,822. During this same period, 0 students qualified for the Yellow Ribbon Program.
Full Northern Illinois University Veteran Student Life Report
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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
- *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.
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