2023 Most Focused Doctor’s Degree Colleges for Natural Resources & Conservation in Illinois

With all of the options students have for higher education today, it can be tough to choose which direction to take. Our mission at College Factual is to arm you with as much information as we can to help you make that decision. Our “Schools for a Doctorate Highly Focused on Natural Resources & Conservation Major in Illinois” ranking is one tool we have developed to help in this regard.

Natural Resources & Conservation is the 25th most popular major in the country with 31,316 degrees awarded in 2021-2022. In , natural resources & conservation graduates who were awarded their degree in , earned an average of $34,166 and had an average of $23,195 in loans still to pay off.

Across Illinois, there were 717 natural resources & conservation graduates with average earnings and debt of $33,825 and $22,998 respectively. At the doctor’s degree level specifically, there were 7 natural resources & conservation graduates with average earnings and debt of $82,783 and $153,500 respectively.

This year’s “Schools for a Doctorate Highly Focused on Natural Resources & Conservation Major in Illinois” ranking looked at 3 colleges that offer degrees in a bachelor’s in natural resources & conservation. That schools that top this list have a program in natural resources & conservation in which the largest percentage of students at the school are enrolled.

For more information, check out our ranking methodology.

More Ways to Rank Natural Resources & Conservation 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 “Schools for a Doctorate Highly Focused on Natural Resources & Conservation Major in Illinois” list to help you make the college decision.

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. We encourage you to try it out and pit your favorite colleges and universities head to head! If you don’t have time right now, you can bookmark it for later.

Schools for a Doctorate Highly Focused on Natural Resources & Conservation Major in Illinois

The colleges and universities below are the best for illinois doctor’s degree natural resources & conservation students.

Top 3 Most Focused Doctor’s Degree Colleges for Natural Resources & Conservation in Illinois

1

Western Illinois University
Macomb, Illinois

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Western Illinois University. It ranked #1 on our 2023 Schools for a Doctorate Highly Focused on Natural Resources & Conservation Major in Illinois list. This medium-sized school is located in Macomb, Illinois, and it awarded 0 doctorate’s natural resources & conservation degrees in 2021-2022.

The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is 3.2%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

Read more about Natural Resources & Conservation at WIU

2

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Champaign, Illinois

#3 overall quality in Illinois

Out of the 3 schools in the Schools for a Doctorate Highly Focused on Natural Resources & Conservation Major in Illinois that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign landed the #2 spot on the list. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is a public institution located in Champaign, Illinois. The school has a large population, and it awarded 7 doctorate’s degrees in 2021-2022.

Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 93%. The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is 0.6%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

Read more about Natural Resources & Conservation at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

3

Southern Illinois University Carbondale
Carbondale, Illinois

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Southern Illinois University Carbondale. It ranked #3 on our 2023 Schools for a Doctorate Highly Focused on Natural Resources & Conservation Major in Illinois list. Carbondale, Illinois is the setting for this fairly large institution of higher learning. The public school handed out doctorate’s natural resources & conservation degrees to 58 students in 2021-2022.

The undergraduate 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. The low undergrad student loan default rate of 2.4% 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 Natural Resources & Conservation at Southern Illinois University Carbondale

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

• *Avg Salary and Avg 4-Year Grad Rate 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 Lynn Betts.