2022 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Legal Assistant/Paralegal (Income $0-$30k) in Illinois

With all of the options students have for higher education today, it can be tough to choose which direction to take. College Factual has developed its “Best Value Paralegal Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Making $0-$30k” ranking as one item you can use to help make this decision.

In 2019-2020, 9,938 people earned their degree in legal assistant/paralegal, making the major the 123rd most popular in the United States.

Across Illinois, there were 352 legal assistant/paralegal graduates with average earnings and debt of $0 and $0 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 56 legal assistant/paralegal graduates with average earnings and debt of $38,319 and $24,183 respectively.

For this year’s “Best Value Paralegal Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Making $0-$30k” ranking, we looked at 3 colleges that offer a degree in legal assistant/paralegal. Not only do the schools that top this list have excellent legal assistant/paralegal programs, but they also cost less that schools of similar quality.

To come up with these rankings, we looked at factors such as the cost to attend the school after aid is awarded and overall quality of the legal assistant/paralegal program at the school. For more information, check out our ranking methodology.

One Size Does Not Fit All

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 Value Paralegal Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Making $0-$30k” list to help you make the college decision.

In addition to our rankings, you can take two colleges and compare them based on the criteria that matters most to you in our unique tool, College Combat. Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.

Best Value Paralegal Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Making $0-$30k

The colleges and universities below are the best for illinois bachelor’s degree paralegal students whose families make $0-$30k.

Top 3 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Legal Assistant/Paralegal (Income $0-$30k) in Illinois

#1

Southern Illinois University Carbondale

Carbondale, Illinois

#3 in overall quality

$13,658 Average Net Price

Out of the 3 schools in the Best Value Paralegal Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Making $0-$30k that were part of this year’s ranking, Southern Illinois University Carbondale landed the #1 spot on the list. SIUC is a fairly large school located in Carbondale, Illinois that handed out 10 bachelors’s paralegal degrees in 2019-2020.

SIUC not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #3 on our “Best Legal Assistant/Paralegal Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” list. The estimated yearly cost for SIUC is $13,658 for Illinois Bachelor’s Degree Paralegal students whose families make $0-$30k.

Read more about Legal Assistant/Paralegal at SIUC

#2

Roosevelt University

Chicago, Illinois

#2 in overall quality

$20,398 Average Net Price

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Roosevelt University. It ranked #2 on our 2022 Best Value Paralegal Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Making $0-$30k list. This small school is located in Chicago, Illinois, and it awarded 16 bachelors’s paralegal degrees in 2019-2020.

Roosevelt also made our “Best Legal Assistant/Paralegal Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” list, coming in at #2. The yearly cost to attend Roosevelt is $20,398 for Illinois Bachelor’s Degree Paralegal students whose families make $0-$30k.

Read more about Legal Assistant/Paralegal at Roosevelt

#3

Loyola University Chicago

Chicago, Illinois

#1 in overall quality

$29,440 Average Net Price

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Loyola University Chicago. It ranked #3 on our 2022 Best Value Paralegal Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Making $0-$30k list. Located in Chicago, Illinois, this fairly large private not-for-profit school awarded 6 diplomas to qualified bachelors’s paralegal students in 2019-2020.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at Loyola Chicago, the school also landed the #1 spot in our “Best Legal Assistant/Paralegal Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for Loyola University Chicago is $29,440 for illinois bachelor’s degree paralegal students whose families make $0-$30k.

The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 3.4%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. With a freshman retention rate of 85%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students.

Read more about Legal Assistant/Paralegal at Loyola University Chicago

• Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Legal Assistant/Paralegal (Income $0-$30k) in the Great Lakes Region
• Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Legal Assistant/Paralegal (Income $0-$30k)

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.

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