Colleges in Illinois


Illinois has 90 private and 12 public 4-year colleges that enroll 47,815 first-year students yearly. The average tuition of public colleges is $27,925 for in-state students and $33,980 for out-of-state and international students.

Private colleges in Illinois charge around $30,606 per year in tuition regardless of residency.

In the 2020-2021 academic year, Illinois provided $102.3 million in financial aid to 19,589 students who enrolled in 4-year colleges for the first time as undergraduates. In addition, the colleges themselves awarded $632.5 million in grants and scholarships to 39,926 students.

Illinois receives 2.3% of the total pell grant the federal government allocates. In the 2020-2021 academic year, 19,407 4-year college first-year undergraduates were awarded a total amount of $94.8 million in pell grant ($4,611 per student on average), and 25,566 students received a total amount of $137.5 million in the form of student loans from the federal government ($5,835 per student on average).

Net price Acceptance Rate Graduation Rate
Methodist College 4 year $25,955 100.0% 87.5%
University of Chicago 4 year $36,584 96.0% 7.3%
Northwestern University 4 year $28,344 95.0% 9.3%
Wheaton College 4 year $27,474 87.6% 87.0%
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 4 year $13,517 86.2% 63.3%
Illinois Wesleyan University 4 year $32,545 82.0% 56.9%
Fox College 2 year $13,195 78.3% 50.0%
Augustana College 4 year $24,233 76.6% 57.4%
Loyola University Chicago 4 year $37,731 76.1% 70.5%
Bradley University 4 year $25,850 75.5% 73.3%
Lake Forest College 4 year $26,968 75.2% 57.6%
Principia College 4 year $15,630 75.2% 93.2%
VanderCook College of Music 4 year $25,764 72.0% 100.0%
Illinois Institute of Technology 4 year $28,161 71.8% 60.7%
DePaul University 4 year $33,319 71.2% 70.2%
Knox College 4 year $23,266 71.0% 70.8%
Lewis University 4 year $20,022 69.9% 66.1%
Elmhurst University 4 year $21,776 68.4% 65.5%
Illinois College 4 year $17,544 68.3% 75.2%
Illinois State University 4 year $20,933 68.1% 81.3%
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