2022 Best Value Colleges for Environmental Engineering (Income $30-$48k) in Illinois

When pursuing a degree in today’s world, students have many different options to choose from. At College Factual, we’re committed to helping you make that decision by providing information such as that found in our “Best Value Environmental Engineering Schools in Illinois For Those Making $30-$48k” ranking.

Environmental Engineering is the 166th most popular major in the country with 2,802 degrees awarded in 2019-2020. In 2017-2018, environmental engineering graduates who were awarded their degree in 2015-2017, earned an average of $52,600 and had an average of $23,573 in loans still to pay off.

Across Illinois, there were 69 environmental engineering graduates with average earnings and debt of $0 and $0 respectively.

For this year’s “Best Value Environmental Engineering Schools in Illinois For Those Making $30-$48k” ranking, we looked at 3 colleges that offer a degree in environmental engineering. Not only do the schools that top this list have excellent environmental engineering programs, but they also cost less that schools of similar quality.

When determining these rankings, we looked at things such as overall quality of the environmental engineering program at the school and the cost to attend the school once aid has been awarded. For more information, check out our ranking methodology.

One Size Does Not Fit All

The environmental engineering 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 “Best Value Environmental Engineering Schools in Illinois For Those Making $30-$48k”.

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. Test it out when you get a chance! You may also want to bookmark the link and share it with others who are trying to make the college decision.

Best Value Environmental Engineering Schools in Illinois For Those Making $30-$48k

The colleges and universities below are the best for illinois environmental engineering students whose families make $30-$48k.

Top 3 Best Value Colleges for Environmental Engineering (Income $30-$48k) in Illinois

#1

Northwestern University

Evanston, Illinois

#1 in overall quality

$3,995 Average Net Price

$68,272 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Northwestern University. It ranked #1 on our 2022 Best Value Environmental Engineering Schools in Illinois For Those Making $30-$48k list. This large school is located in Evanston, Illinois, and it awarded 12 ’s environmental engineering degrees in 2019-2020.

Northwestern not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #1 on our “Best Environmental Engineering Schools in Illinois” list. It costs about $3,995 for illinois environmental engineering students whose families make $30-$48k per year to attend Northwestern University.

The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 0.8%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. The impressive 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. Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 97%.

Read more about Environmental Engineering at Northwestern University

#2

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Champaign, Illinois

#2 in overall quality

$8,464 Average Net Price

$49,122 Average Early-Career Earnings

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 #2 for the Best Value Environmental Engineering Schools in Illinois For Those Making $30-$48k. Located in Champaign, Illinois, this large public school handed out 32 degrees to qualified ’s environmental engineering students in 2019-2020.

UIUC did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #2 on our “Best Environmental Engineering Schools in Illinois” list. The yearly cost to attend UIUC is $8,464 for Illinois Environmental Engineering students whose families make $30-$48k.

Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 94%. The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 2.4%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.

Read more about Environmental Engineering at UIUC

#3

Illinois Institute of Technology

Chicago, Illinois

#3 in overall quality

$18,720 Average Net Price

$62,621 Average Early-Career Earnings

Out of the 3 schools in the Best Value Environmental Engineering Schools in Illinois For Those Making $30-$48k that were part of this year’s ranking, Illinois Institute of Technology landed the #3 spot on the list. Illinois Institute of Technology is a medium-sized school located in Chicago, Illinois that handed out 13 ’s environmental engineering degrees in 2019-2020.

Illinois Tech did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #3 on our “Best Environmental Engineering Schools in Illinois” list. It costs about $18,720 for illinois environmental engineering students whose families make $30-$48k per year to attend Illinois Tech.

The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 87%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year. The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 2.9%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. The student-to-faculty ratio of 10 to 1 is a sign that students will have more opportunities to engage with their professors one-on-one.

Read more about Environmental Engineering at Illinois Institute of Technology

• Best Value Colleges for Environmental Engineering (Income $30-$48k) in the Great Lakes Region
• Best Value Colleges for Environmental Engineering (Income $30-$48k)

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

• Credit for the banner image above goes to U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Alesia Goosic.

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