Top 15 Illinois Colleges with the Best 'Added Values'

A new report by the Brookings Institution looked at colleges and universities in Illinois to determine their “added values”– or how useful it is for a student to attend a particular school versus a similar student to attend a comparable school.

The authors focus on aspects of value added to the education in relation to the schools instead of a student’s background or academic achievement:

One measure that can indicate the added value of an education at one school is an alumnus’ mid-career salary, compared with the salary of a similar student with a similar background in a similar job who attended a similar (but not the same) university.

More added value at a particular college could come from greater name recognition of that school, the connections of professors, the school’s location, the availability of internships and many other, possibly unknown, factors.

Here are the 15 Illinois colleges with the best added values based on a graduate’s mid-career salary as well as the five worst schools, according to data from the Brookings Institution.

Like what you see here from Reboot Illinois? Then sign up for our daily email to get more great content right to your email inbox.