2026 Best Value Fashion Design Schools in Illinois
[Fashion Design](/majors/visual-and-performing-arts/design-and-applied-arts/fashion-design/) degree programs vary widely in price and payoff across the country. The best values balance affordable tuition against strong post-graduation earnings.
For its 2026 best-value ranking, College Factual looked at 4 schools to find the best return on investment for fashion design students.
What’s on this page:
2026 Best Value Fashion Design Schools in Illinois
Below are the schools that deliver the strongest value in fashion design, balancing cost against outcomes.
Best Value Fashion Design Schools
Leading the list is Columbia College Chicago, our #1 best value for fashion design in Illinois. Set in the city of Chicago, Columbia College Chicago is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit institution. Expect in-state tuition and fees of around $34,088. Students borrow a median of $27,000 to complete the fashion design program here. Soon after graduation, fashion design degree recipients from Columbia College Chicago generally make around $29,630. Weighed against typical debt, the earnings make a compelling case for value. Roughly 90% of applicants are accepted.
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Notes and References
This ranking is produced by College Factual (MF_RANKING_2025), 2026 edition. Schools are scored on the balance of cost (tuition and student debt) against student outcomes (post-graduation earnings) — a measure of return on investment, drawn primarily from the U.S. Department of Education (IPEDS and College Scorecard).
Ranking method: College Major Best Value · 4 schools evaluated.
*Averages shown above reflect the top 2 ranked schools only.
- 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).
More about our data sources and methodologies.
