2022 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for General Engineering (Income Over $110k) in Illinois

When it comes to choosing a college, students have a lot of options - but not all of them are good. At College Factual, we’re committed to helping you make that decision by providing information such as that found in our “Best Vallue Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Making Over $110k” ranking.

In 2019-2020, 11,925 people earned their degree in general engineering, making the major the 78th most popular in the United States. In 2017-2018, general engineering graduates who were awarded their degree in 2015-2017, earned an average of $66,152 and had an average of $20,077 in loans still to pay off.

Across Illinois, there were 444 general engineering graduates with average earnings and debt of $64,650 and $24,821 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 96 general engineering graduates with average earnings and debt of $38,319 and $24,183 respectively.

For this year’s “Best Vallue Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Making Over $110k” ranking, we looked at 3 colleges that offer a degree in general engineering. The schools that top this list are recognized because they have great general engineering programs and cost less that schools of similar quality.

Some of the factors we look at when determining these rankings are overall quality of the general engineering 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.

More Ways to Rank General Engineering 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 Vallue Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Making Over $110k” list to help you make the college decision.

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. Test it out by comparing your favorite schools against others you are considering, or bookmark the tool so you can experiment with it later.

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Best Vallue Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Making Over $110k

The following schools top our list of the Best Best Vallue Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Making Over $110k.

Top 3 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for General Engineering (Income Over $110k) in Illinois

#1

Olivet Nazarene University

Bourbonnais, Illinois

#2 in overall quality

$20,195 Average Net Price

$61,020 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Olivet Nazarene University. The school came in at #1 for the Best Vallue Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Making Over $110k. Bourbonnais, Illinois is the setting for this small institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out bachelors’s engineering degrees to 79 students in 2019-2020.

Olivet Nazarene also made our “Best General Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” list, coming in at #2. The estimated yearly cost for Olivet Nazarene University is $20,195 for illinois bachelor’s degree engineering students whose families make more than $110k.

The student loan default rate at the school is 3.4%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

Read full report on General Engineering at Olivet Nazarene University

#2

Western Illinois University

Macomb, Illinois

#3 in overall quality

$16,210 Average Net Price

$58,221 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Western Illinois University. It ranked #2 on our 2022 Best Vallue Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Making Over $110k list. Located in Macomb, Illinois, this medium-sized public school handed out 10 diplomas to qualified bachelors’s engineering students in 2019-2020.

WIU not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #3 on our “Best General Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” list. The yearly cost to attend WIU is $16,210 for illinois bachelor’s degree engineering students whose families make more than $110k.

Read full report on General Engineering at WIU

#3

Northwestern University

Evanston, Illinois

#1 in overall quality

$24,664 Average Net Price

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Northwestern University. It ranked #3 on our 2022 Best Vallue Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Making Over $110k list. Northwestern University is a large school located in Evanston, Illinois that handed out 5 bachelors’s engineering degrees in 2019-2020.

Northwestern did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #1 on our “Best General Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” list. The estimated yearly cost for Northwestern University is $24,664 for Illinois Bachelor’s Degree Engineering students whose families make more than $110k.

With a student-to-faculty ratio of 6 to 1, it’s easy to see that the school is committed to helping their undergraduates succeed. 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 low student loan default rate of 0.8% 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%.

Read more about General Engineering at Northwestern

• Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for General Engineering (Income Over $110k) in the Great Lakes Region
• Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for General Engineering (Income Over $110k)

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 Rémi Kaupp.

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