Top colleges in IL by 10-year ROI
Executive Summary
Bachelor’s-predominant institutions located in IL with at least 200 students, sorted by the same 10-year ROI estimate used nationally. University of Chicago leads this list at $359,160 (10 Yr. ROI).
Leaders: top 3
University of Chicago
10 Yr. ROI
$359,160
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
10 Yr. ROI
$295,067
Illinois Institute of Technology
10 Yr. ROI
$292,532
Top 25 Top colleges in IL by 10-year ROI
| Rank | Institution | State | Control | Enrollment | 10 Yr. ROI | Also see |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | University of Chicago | IL | Private nonprofit | 7,569 | $359,160 | Grad 95.9% · Net $14,860 |
| 2 | University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign | IL | Public | 36,258 | $295,067 | Grad 85.1% · Net $14,355 |
| 3 | Illinois Institute of Technology | IL | Private nonprofit | 2,833 | $292,532 | Grad 75.2% · Net $18,425 |
| 4 | Chamberlain University-Illinois | IL | Private for-profit | 14,027 | $282,944 | Grad 41.7% · Net $31,837 |
| 5 | Northwestern University | IL | Private nonprofit | 9,201 | $270,450 | Grad 95.1% · Net $29,167 |
| 6 | University of Illinois Chicago | IL | Public | 22,170 | $251,625 | Grad 61.6% · Net $10,974 |
| 7 | University of St Francis | IL | Private nonprofit | 1,223 | $241,399 | Grad 66.8% · Net $13,006 |
| 8 | Saint Xavier University | IL | Private nonprofit | 3,096 | $221,660 | Grad 56.6% · Net $10,970 |
| 9 | Lewis University | IL | Private nonprofit | 4,015 | $220,279 | Grad 66.6% · Net $17,028 |
| 10 | Dominican University | IL | Private nonprofit | 2,561 | $218,440 | Grad 55.3% · Net $11,745 |
| 11 | University of Illinois Springfield | IL | Public | 2,263 | $215,438 | Grad 53.2% · Net $9,833 |
| 12 | Bradley University | IL | Private nonprofit | 3,574 | $205,882 | Grad 76.2% · Net $22,719 |
| 13 | Governors State University | IL | Public | 2,556 | $198,999 | Grad 22.1% · Net $12,329 |
| 14 | Northern Illinois University | IL | Public | 11,301 | $191,536 | Grad 48.7% · Net $13,391 |
| 15 | Illinois State University | IL | Public | 19,057 | $186,636 | Grad 64.5% · Net $19,398 |
| 16 | North Park University | IL | Private nonprofit | 1,818 | $185,779 | Grad 57.7% · Net $16,948 |
| 17 | Southern Illinois University Edwardsville | IL | Public | 8,750 | $181,782 | Grad 57.0% · Net $14,889 |
| 18 | Aurora University | IL | Private nonprofit | 3,974 | $179,749 | Grad 60.3% · Net $18,838 |
| 19 | Illinois Wesleyan University | IL | Private nonprofit | 1,582 | $179,382 | Grad 74.7% · Net $28,199 |
| 20 | Western Illinois University | IL | Public | 4,410 | $178,057 | Grad 45.2% · Net $12,937 |
| 21 | Benedictine University | IL | Private nonprofit | 1,942 | $174,905 | Grad 50.3% · Net $22,313 |
| 22 | Southern Illinois University-Carbondale | IL | Public | 8,494 | $174,546 | Grad 62.4% · Net $13,297 |
| 23 | Eastern Illinois University | IL | Public | 4,188 | $174,132 | Grad 47.4% · Net $12,786 |
| 24 | North Central College | IL | Private nonprofit | 2,428 | $172,840 | Grad 64.0% · Net $21,044 |
| 25 | Elmhurst University | IL | Private nonprofit | 3,006 | $169,932 | Grad 70.0% · Net $24,185 |
Method notes
- Underlying institution file: EDsmart Data processed College Scorecard extract merged to IPEDS 2023 directory for HBCU and Carnegie fields.
- ROI column matches the processed college_roi_rankings series in this site build; see College Scorecard ROI methodology.
- School profile links use generated slugs; not every campus has a published profile page yet—use the Scorecard site as fallback.