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2022 Best Value Photography Schools in Illinois For Those Getting Aid

5 Ranked Colleges
73 Degrees Awarded
$22,800 Avg Net Price*
Best Value Photography Schools in Illinois For Those Getting Aid

Students have lots of options to chooose from today when trying to decide which college to attend. College Factual was founded, in part, to help students make the decision as to what would be the best school for them. Our “Best Value Photography Schools in Illinois For Those Getting Aid” ranking is part of that endeavor.

Photography is the 291st most popular major in the country with 2,438 degrees awarded in 2019-2020.

Across Illinois, there were 73 photography graduates with average earnings and debt of $0 and $0 respectively.

This year’s “Best Value Photography Schools in Illinois For Those Getting Aid” ranking looked at 5 colleges that offer degrees in a bachelor’s in photography. Not only do the schools that top this list have excellent photography 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 photography program at the school. See our ranking methodology to learn more.

More Ways to Rank Photography Schools

The photography 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 Photography Schools in Illinois For Those Getting Aid”.

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. Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.

Best Value Photography Schools in Illinois For Those Getting Aid

The following schools top our list of the Best Best Value Photography Schools in Illinois For Those Getting Aid.

Top 5 Best Value Colleges for Photography in Illinois (With Aid)

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 #1 for the Best Value Photography Schools in Illinois For Those Getting Aid. UIUC is located in Champaign, Illinois and, has a large student population. In 2019-2020, this school awarded 11 ’s photography degrees to qualified students.

UIUC did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #1 on our “Best Photography Schools in Illinois” list. The yearly cost to attend UIUC is $15,880 for illinois photography students with aid.

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%. With a freshman retention rate of 94%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students.

Full University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Photography Report

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of Illinois at Chicago. It ranked #2 on our 2022 Best Value Photography Schools in Illinois For Those Getting Aid list. UIC is a large public school situated in Chicago, Illinois. It awarded 1 ’s photography degrees in 2019-2020.

UIC not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #4 on our “Best Photography Schools in Illinois” list. The yearly cost to attend University of Illinois at Chicago is $13,312 for illinois photography students with aid.

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%.

Full University of Illinois at Chicago Photography Report

#3

Bradley University

Peoria, Illinois

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Bradley University. The school came in at #3 for the Best Value Photography Schools in Illinois For Those Getting Aid. Located in Peoria, Illinois, this medium-sized private not-for-profit school awarded 9 diplomas to qualified ’s photography students in 2019-2020.

In addition to being on our illinois photography students with aid list, Bradley has also earned the #2 rank in our “Best Photography Schools in Illinois” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for Bradley University is $25,634 for illinois photography students with aid.

The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 86%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year. The student loan default rate at the school is 2.5%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

Read full report on Photography at Bradley

#4

Columbia College Chicago

Chicago, Illinois

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Columbia College Chicago. It ranked #4 on our 2022 Best Value Photography Schools in Illinois For Those Getting Aid list. Chicago, Illinois is the setting for this medium-sized institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out ’s photography degrees to 49 students in 2019-2020.

In addition to being on our illinois photography students with aid list, Columbia has also earned the #3 rank in our “Best Photography Schools in Illinois” ranking. The yearly cost to attend Columbia is $31,099 for illinois photography students with aid.

Full Columbia Photography Report

#5

American Academy of Art

Chicago, Illinois

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend American Academy of Art. The school came in at #5 for the Best Value Photography Schools in Illinois For Those Getting Aid. American Academy of Art is a small private not-for-profit school situated in Chicago, Illinois. It awarded 2 ’s photography degrees in 2019-2020.

The Academy also took the #5 spot in our “Best Photography Schools in Illinois” ranking. It costs about $28,106 for Illinois Photography students with aid per year to attend American Academy of Art.

The impressive student-to-faculty ratio of 7 to 1 means that students may have more opportunities to work more closely with their professors than they would at other schools.

Read full report on Photography at American Academy of Art

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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