Illinois Colleges: Tuition, Debt & Earnings (2026 stats)

Analysis & insights

EDsmart Data aggregates institution-level College Scorecard data for this profile. Highlights below compare local medians to U.S. and regional benchmarks.

Costs & borrowing

Illinois median public in-state tuition is $4,788, about -13.1% vs the national median. Versus the Great Lakes region, tuition is -14.9%.

Median graduate debt is $10,929 (-18.6% below the U.S. median of $13,432, and -22.0% vs the Great Lakes regional median of $14,004). Low sticker prices do not always mean low borrowing—living costs, time-to-degree, and aid mix matter.

Student debt rank: #10 nationally of 48 (lower debt = better rank); #1 in Great Lakes of 5 (1 = lowest median debt).

On published in-state tuition, Illinois ranks #15 nationally (1 = lowest median sticker among states with data).

Earnings, employment & retention

Among bachelor's-predominant campuses with ≥200 students, median 10-year earnings in Illinois are $57,988, about +6.8% vs the U.S. campus median ($54,323).

The median campus reports 92.5% of its 8-year cohort as working and not enrolled—our closest federal proxy to a placement rate. The U.S. campus median is 87.9% (+4.5 pp). Formal job-placement statistics are not published in Scorecard; treat this as a comparative outcome indicator, not a hire guarantee.

First-year, full-time retention at the median campus is 75.0% vs a U.S. median of 76.3%—a leading indicator for completion and time-to-degree.

Loan repayment indicators at the median campus: 2-yr default 4.2% (U.S. 5.0%); 3-yr repayment progress 74.5% (U.S. 73.7%). 3-yr default is omitted when most campuses report suppressed zeros.

Nationally, Illinois ranks earnings #14 and employment proxy #7 on these outcome medians (1 = best).

Top employment-outcome campuses in this extract include Eureka College (95.5%), Illinois State University (95.4%), Bradley University (95.3%), Monmouth College (94.8%), Augustana College (94.7%), Illinois Wesleyan University (94.6%), Illinois College (94.5%), McKendree University (94.2%), University of St Francis (94.1%), Millikin University (94.0%)—useful anchors for local reporting on where graduates are most often working rather than still enrolled.

Completion & workforce context

Within Illinois, sector medians diverge: Private nonprofit median 10-yr earnings $58,656 (42 campuses); Public median 10-yr earnings $56,724 (12 campuses). Public campuses often dominate enrollment while private nonprofits can show higher earnings medians at selective institutions.

Average institution-level completion rate across all sectors in Illinois is 55.2% (national institution average about 50.3%).

National Student Clearinghouse data cite roughly 1,648,560 residents with some college but no credential in Illinois (YoY change 1.00%). That stock of incomplete credentials sits alongside the completion and employment metrics above.