26 Illinois Schools Make Money’s Best Colleges By Value Ranking

ILLINOIS ­­­­­— Twenty-six Illinois colleges and universities are among the best schools in the country based on quality and affordability, according to a new tool and resource that is aimed at helping prospective college students and their families find the best value for their money.

The schools are listed among 671 institutions of higher education that are listed on Money’s new “Best Colleges in America, Ranked By Value” report. The list includes more than schools that met Money’s criteria. The full methodology is found on Money’s website, but in short, it includes financially sound schools with enrollments of 500 or more students and graduation rates at or above the mean for the category of institution.

The University of Illinois-Champaign was the only school in the state that cracked the Top 10, ranking 7th Three schools across the state ranked among the nation’s top 100 affordable colleges and universities, according to the list.

The data is sorted into three categories: quality of education; affordability, including the availability of grants and other financial aid; and outcomes, a category that takes a comprehensive look at earnings after graduation, graduates’ economic mobility, and a new measure of return on investment using data from the Bipartisan Policy Center.

For students who want to stay in Illinois to go to college, the following colleges offer the most value, according to the ranking:

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-CHAMPAIGN (7th)

• Overall score: 84.78
• Acceptance rate: 63 Percent
• Estimated full price, 2022-23: $32,000
• Estimated price with the average grant: $14,300
• Percent of students who get grants: 61 percent

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-CHICAGO (57)

• Overall score: 75.82
• Acceptance rate: 73 percent
• Estimated full price, 2022-23: $31,800
• Estimated price with the average grant: $13,300
• Percent of students who get grants: 72 percent

BRADLEY UNIVERSITY (66)

• Overall score: 75.13
• Acceptance rate: 73 percent
• Estimated full price, 2022-23: $51,600
• Estimated price with the average grant: $27,300
• Percent of students who get grants: 96 percent

WHEATON COLLEGE

• Overall score: 72.29
• Acceptance rate: 87 percent
• Estimated full price, 2022-23: $54,400
• Estimated price with the average grant: $29,000
• Percent of students who get grants: 86 percent

THE UNIVERSITY OF ST. FRANCIS

• Overall score: 72.03
• Acceptance rate: 60 percent
• Estimated full price, 2022-23: $50,400
• Estimated price with the average grant: $17,700
• Percent of students who get grants: 86 percent

ILLINOIS STATE UNIVERSITY

• Overall score: 71.32
• Acceptance rate: 81 percent
• Estimated full price, 2022-23: $32,600
• Estimated price with the average grant: $22,100
• Percent of students who get grants: 75 percent

ILLINOIS WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY

• Overall score: 71.26
• Acceptance rate: 57 percent
• Estimated full price, 2022-23: $67,500
• Estimated price with the average grant: $34,400
• Percent of students who get grants: 100 percent

JUDSON UNIVERSITY

• Overall score: 71.06
• Acceptance rate: 57 percent
• Estimated full price, 2022-23: $45,600
• Estimated price with the average grant: $16,900
• Percent of students who get grants: 70 percent

ILLINOIS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

• Overall score: 70.72
• Acceptance rate: 61 percent
• Estimated full price, 2022-23: $73,200
• Estimated price with the average grant: $22,800
• Percent of students who get grants: 95 percent

LEWIS UNIVERSITY

• Overall score: 69.18
• Acceptance rate: 66 percent
• Estimated full price, 2022-23: $50,600
• Estimated price with the average grant: $21,100
• Percent of students who get grants: 91 percent

Money also has a tool that students and parents can use to further narrow down their search and build a customized list that uses its high-value college rankings to create a grouping that best matches a student’s interests. The list can be re-ranked, based on the importance of financial aid and post-graduate earnings, Money said.

Nationally, the Top 10 schools based on value are:

• University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
• The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• University of Virginia, Charlottesville
• Massachusetts Maritime Academy, Buzzards Bay
• Virginia Military Institute, Lexington
• Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta
• The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• University of Florida, Gainesville
• University of California, Irvine
• University of California, Davis