2021 Best Visual & Performing Arts Colleges for Non-Traditional Students in the Great Lakes Region
63Colleges
13,076Bachelor's Degrees
$29,088Avg Cost*
Finding the Best Visual & Performing Arts Schools for Non-Traditional Students
For this year's Best Visual & Performing Arts Colleges for Non-Traditional Students in the Great Lakes Region ranking, we looked at 63 colleges that offer a bachelor's in visual & performing arts. This ranking identifies schools with high-quality visual & performing arts programs as well as strong support for students classified as non-traditional.
When determining these rankings, we looked at things such as overall quality of the visual & performing arts program at the school, affordability, and presence of non-traditional students. For more information, check out our ranking methodology.
As a non-traditional student, you have a lot to consider when it comes to choosing an education. That's why we've developed rankings specifically for you. Check out more major-related rankings here..
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.
When you have some time, check it out - you may want to bookmark the link so you don't forget it.
2021 Best Visual & Performing Arts Schools for Non-Traditional Students in the Great Lakes Region
The colleges and universities below are the best for non-traditional students studying visual & performing arts.
Top 10 Best Visual & Performing Arts Schools for Non-Traditional Students
Illinois State University has taken the #1 spot in this year's visual & performing arts ranking for non-traditional students. Illinois State is a fairly large public school located in the midsize suburb of Normal. As a testament to the quality of education offered at Illinois State, the school also landed the #8 rank in our Best Colleges for Visual & Performing Arts in the Great Lakes Region ranking.
About 1.7% of Illinois State students default on their loans in three years, which is lower than average. Approximately 7,464 students take at least one class online at Illinois State. There are roughly 2,500 part time students in attendance at Illinois State.
Our rankings recognize Indiana University - Bloomington as the #2 school in this year's rankings. IU Bloomington is a fairly large public school located in the small city of Bloomington. IU Bloomington did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #5 on our Best Colleges for Visual & Performing Arts in the Great Lakes Region list.
About 1.4% of IU Bloomington students default on their loans in three years, which is lower than average. There are approximately 18,013 students at IU Bloomington that take at least one class online. 5,256 students are part time.
The #3 spot in this year's ranking belongs to Columbia College Chicago. Located in the city of Chicago, Columbia is a private not-for-profit school with a moderately-sized student population.
The school has a low student loan default rate of 1.8%. Approximately 1,283 students take at least one class online at Columbia. There are roughly 414 part time students in attendance at Columbia.
Our rankings recognize University of Michigan - Ann Arbor as the #4 school in this year's rankings. Located in the medium-sized city of Ann Arbor, U-M is a public college with a fairly large student population. U-M also made our Best Colleges for Visual & Performing Arts in the Great Lakes Region list, coming in at #3.
About 0.2% of U-M students default on their loans in three years, which is lower than average. There are approximately 15,737 students at U-M that take at least one class online. About 3,568 of the students at U-M are attending part time.
University of Cincinnati - Main Campus landed the #5 spot in our 2021 best visual & performing arts schools for non-traditional students. UC is a very large public school located in the large city of Cincinnati. On top of its placing in our non-traditional rankings, UC also did well on our Best Colleges for Visual & Performing Arts in the Great Lakes Region list. It's in the top 20% of all schools reviewed in that analysis.
About 1.7% of UC students default on their loans in three years, which is lower than average. There are approximately 17,465 students at UC that take at least one class online. There are roughly 10,255 part time students in attendance at UC.
Ball State University earned the #6 spot in our 2021 rankings. Located in the city of Muncie, Ball State is a public college with a fairly large student population.
The school has a low student loan default rate of 1.9%. Approximately 7,100 students take at least one class online at Ball State. About 6,060 of the students at Ball State are attending part time.
University of Wisconsin - Madison comes in at #7 in this year's ranking. Located in the city of Madison, UW - Madison is a public college with a very large student population. In addition to being on our bet for non-traditional students list, UW - Madison is in the top 20% of all schools on our Best Colleges for Visual & Performing Arts in the Great Lakes Region list.
The student loan default rate at UW - Madison is lower than is typical, just 0.2% of students default in three years. Approximately 11,375 students take at least one class online at UW - Madison. 4,683 of UW - Madison students are attending part time.
DePaul University comes in at #8 in this year's ranking. Located in the large city of Chicago, DePaul is a private not-for-profit school with a very large student population.
The school has a low student loan default rate of 1.0%. Approximately 8,996 students take at least one class online at DePaul. About 3,547 of the students at DePaul are attending part time.
Our rankings recognize Ohio State University - Main Campus as the #9 school in this year's rankings. Located in the city of Columbus, Ohio State is a public college with a fairly large student population. Ohio State also claimed a spot on our Best Colleges for Visual & Performing Arts in the Great Lakes Region list. It's in the top 15% of all schools in this category.
About 1.2% of Ohio State students default on their loans in three years, which is lower than average. There are approximately 42,293 students at Ohio State that take at least one class online. About 8,459 of the students at Ohio State are attending part time.
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign landed the #10 spot in our 2021 best visual & performing arts schools for non-traditional students. Located in the city of Champaign, UIUC is a public college with a very large student population. UIUC also claimed a spot on our Best Colleges for Visual & Performing Arts in the Great Lakes Region list. It's in the top 20% of all schools in this category.
The student loan default rate at UIUC is lower than is typical, just 0.6% of students default in three years. Approximately 35,475 students take at least one class online at UIUC. About 10,007 of the students at UIUC are attending part time.
These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also great but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Best Visual & Performing Arts Colleges for Non-Traditional Students in the Great Lakes Region award.
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 the rest 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).
