Top colleges in Illinois by 10-year ROI
Executive Summary
Bachelor’s-predominant institutions located in Illinois with at least 200 students, sorted by the same 10-year ROI estimate used nationally. University of Chicago leads this list at $386,894 (10 Yr. ROI).
Leaders: top 3
University of Chicago
10 Yr. ROI
$386,894
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
10 Yr. ROI
$327,622
Illinois Institute of Technology
10 Yr. ROI
$304,028
Top 25 Top colleges in Illinois by 10-year ROI
| Rank | Institution | State | Control | Enrollment | 10 Yr. ROI | Also see |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | University of Chicago | IL | Private nonprofit | 7,569 | $386,894 | Grad 95.0% · Net $16,776 |
| 2 | University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign | IL | Public | 36,258 | $327,622 | Grad 86.3% · Net $13,042 |
| 3 | Illinois Institute of Technology | IL | Private nonprofit | 2,833 | $304,028 | Grad 71.0% · Net $22,443 |
| 4 | Northwestern University | IL | Private nonprofit | 9,201 | $284,833 | Grad 96.1% · Net $34,420 |
| 5 | University of Illinois Chicago | IL | Public | 22,170 | $283,114 | Grad 61.5% · Net $9,540 |
| 6 | Chamberlain University-Illinois | IL | Private for-profit | 14,027 | $281,280 | Grad 35.0% · Net $38,263 |
| 7 | University of Illinois Springfield | IL | Public | 2,263 | $252,836 | Grad 53.4% · Net $7,528 |
| 8 | University of St Francis | IL | Private nonprofit | 1,223 | $244,652 | Grad 64.1% · Net $15,961 |
| 9 | Saint Xavier University | IL | Private nonprofit | 3,096 | $243,812 | Grad 54.8% · Net $10,171 |
| 10 | Bradley University | IL | Private nonprofit | 3,574 | $235,531 | Grad 73.5% · Net $22,469 |
| 11 | Dominican University | IL | Private nonprofit | 2,561 | $228,541 | Grad 60.8% · Net $14,013 |
| 12 | Northeastern Illinois University | IL | Public | 3,982 | $222,168 | Grad 25.2% · Net $9,377 |
| 13 | Illinois State University | IL | Public | 19,057 | $215,520 | Grad 67.3% · Net $17,829 |
| 14 | Southern Illinois University Edwardsville | IL | Public | 8,750 | $214,982 | Grad 56.5% · Net $13,111 |
| 15 | Benedictine University | IL | Private nonprofit | 1,942 | $212,618 | Grad 42.7% · Net $18,910 |
| 16 | Northern Illinois University | IL | Public | 11,301 | $212,457 | Grad 48.5% · Net $14,505 |
| 17 | Illinois Wesleyan University | IL | Private nonprofit | 1,582 | $211,298 | Grad 72.6% · Net $27,863 |
| 18 | Western Illinois University | IL | Public | 4,410 | $209,836 | Grad 49.4% · Net $10,018 |
| 19 | North Park University | IL | Private nonprofit | 1,818 | $209,429 | Grad 52.4% · Net $15,949 |
| 20 | DePaul University | IL | Private nonprofit | 14,090 | $205,023 | Grad 67.2% · Net $27,108 |
| 21 | National Louis University | IL | Private nonprofit | 4,406 | $203,590 | Grad 32.1% · Net $10,364 |
| 22 | Trinity Christian College | IL | Private nonprofit | 820 | $203,326 | Grad 64.4% · Net $15,155 |
| 23 | Southern Illinois University-Carbondale | IL | Public | 8,494 | $203,236 | Grad 59.3% · Net $12,554 |
| 24 | Aurora University | IL | Private nonprofit | 3,974 | $202,870 | Grad 60.5% · Net $19,385 |
| 25 | McKendree University | IL | Private nonprofit | 1,752 | $197,850 | Grad 50.6% · Net $18,457 |
Method notes
- Underlying institution file: EDsmart Data processed College Scorecard extract merged to the IPEDS 2024 directory for HBCU and Carnegie fields.
- Cohort applied on this page: enrollment floor of 200 undergraduates; sorted highest first on 10 Yr. ROI; 53 campuses met every filter and the top 25 are published.
- Ties on the ranked metric are broken by enrollment, then institution name, so ranks stay stable between rebuilds.
- ROI column matches the processed college_roi_rankings series in this site build; see College Scorecard ROI methodology.
- How the 10-year ROI figure is built: median earnings reported 6, 8, and 10 years after entry (years 7 and 9 linearly interpolated) are summed across years 6–10, then average annual net price × typical years enrolled (five for bachelor’s-predominant campuses) is subtracted. It is a nominal-dollar gap—not discounted to present value, and it does not subtract earnings foregone while enrolled or compare against a no-college baseline. Campuses reporting only one of the three earnings years are excluded from these tables.
- School profile links use generated slugs; not every campus has a published profile page yet—use the Scorecard site as fallback.