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2022 Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Getting Aid

5 Ranked Colleges
227 Degrees Awarded
$23,100 Avg Net Price*
Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor's in Illinois For Those Getting Aid

It’s not easy to decide which college to attend when there so many options available for students. Our mission at College Factual is to arm you with as much information as we can to help you make that decision. Our “Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Getting Aid” ranking is one tool we have developed to help in this regard.

In 2019-2020, 6,199 people earned their degree in public policy, making the major the 116th most popular in the United States. In 2017-2018, public policy graduates who were awarded their degree in 2015-2017, earned an average of $52,077 and had an average of $35,743 in loans still to pay off.

Across Illinois, there were 654 public policy graduates with average earnings and debt of $51,600 and $37,312 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 227 public policy graduates with average earnings and debt of $38,319 and $24,183 respectively.

This year’s “Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Getting Aid” ranking analyzed 5 colleges that offered a degree in public policy. The schools that top this list are recognized because they have great public policy programs and 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 public policy program at the school. Check out our ranking methodology for more information.

More Ways to Rank Public Policy 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 Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Getting Aid” list to help you make the college decision.

We’ve created a tool called College Combat that lets you create your own customized comparisons 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.

Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Getting Aid

The following schools top our list of the Best Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Getting Aid.

Top 5 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Public Policy in Illinois (With Aid)

#3 in overall quality

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of Illinois at Chicago. The school came in at #1 for the Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Getting Aid. Located in Chicago, Illinois, this large public school handed out 25 degrees to qualified bachelors’s public policy students in 2019-2020.

UIC also made our “Best Public Policy Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” list, coming in at #3. The estimated yearly cost for University of Illinois at Chicago is $13,312 for Illinois Bachelor’s Degree Public Policy students with aid.

The low student loan default rate of 3.4% 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%.

Full UIC Public Policy Report

#2

Northwestern University

Evanston, Illinois

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Northwestern University. It ranked #2 on our 2022 Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Getting Aid list. Northwestern University is a large private not-for-profit school situated in Evanston, Illinois. It awarded 66 bachelors’s public policy degrees in 2019-2020.

Northwestern also took the #2 spot in our “Best Public Policy Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” ranking. The yearly cost to attend Northwestern is $24,664 for Illinois Bachelor’s Degree Public Policy students with aid.

The student loan default rate at the school is 0.8%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 97%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year. 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.

Read full report on Public Policy at Northwestern

#3

Olivet Nazarene University

Bourbonnais, Illinois
#4 in overall quality

Out of the 5 schools in the Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Getting Aid that were part of this year’s ranking, Olivet Nazarene University landed the #3 spot on the list. Bourbonnais, Illinois is the setting for this small institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out bachelors’s public policy degrees to 2 students in 2019-2020.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at Olivet Nazarene, the school also landed the #4 spot in our “Best Public Policy Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” ranking. The yearly cost to attend Olivet Nazarene is $20,195 for illinois bachelor’s degree public policy students with aid.

The low student loan default rate of 3.4% 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 Public Policy at Olivet Nazarene

#4

University of Chicago

Chicago, Illinois

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of Chicago. It ranked #4 on our 2022 Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Getting Aid list. This fairly large school is located in Chicago, Illinois, and it awarded 129 bachelors’s public policy degrees in 2019-2020.

In addition to being on our illinois bachelor’s degree public policy students with aid list, UChicago has also earned the #1 rank in our “Best Public Policy Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” ranking. It costs about $27,315 for illinois bachelor’s degree public policy students with aid per year to attend University of Chicago.

With a freshman retention rate of 100%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students. The student loan default rate at the school is 0.6%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%. The student-to-faculty ratio of 5 to 1 is a sign that students will have more opportunities to engage with their professors one-on-one.

Read full report on Public Policy at University of Chicago

#5

DePaul University

Chicago, Illinois

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend DePaul University. The school came in at #5 for the Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s in Illinois For Those Getting Aid. DePaul is located in Chicago, Illinois and, has a large student population. In 2019-2020, this school awarded 5 bachelors’s public policy degrees to qualified students.

DePaul did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #5 on our “Best Public Policy Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Illinois” list. It costs about $30,090 for Illinois Bachelor’s Degree Public Policy students with aid per year to attend DePaul University.

The low student loan default rate of 4.5% 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 full report on Public Policy at DePaul

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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