Best Christian Colleges in Illinois 2023

Best Christian Colleges in Illinois 2023

By James Barham

Published: Mar 23, 2021
Updated: Mar 13, 2023

For prospective college students looking for schools that align with their Christian faith and demonstrate academic excellence, here are the best Christian colleges and universities in Illinois.

10 Best Christian Colleges in Illinois

Loyola University Chicago

52%

DePaul University

49%

Wheaton College

43%

Illinois College

40%

Augustana College

32%

32%

Monmouth College

31%

McKendree University

29%

Elmhurst University

29%

North Central College

28%

Trinity International University

91%

Concordia University Chicago

88%

87%

Wheaton College

86%

Saint Xavier University

85%

Dominican University

81%

Benedictine University

80%

Greenville University

80%

McKendree University

78%

Loyola University Chicago

77%

DePaul University

17 to 1

Saint Xavier University

16 to 1

Quincy University

15 to 1

Loyola University Chicago

14 to 1

McKendree University

14 to 1

Lewis University

14 to 1

Olivet Nazarene University

14 to 1

University of St. Francis

13 to 1

Elmhurst University

13 to 1

North Central College

13 to 1

Loyola University Chicago

$47,808

Augustana College

$46,189

North Central College

$42,206

DePaul University

$42,012

Monmouth College

$41,390

Wheaton College

$40,820

Elmhurst University

$39,400

Olivet Nazarene University

$37,440

Dominican University

$35,570

Lewis University

$35,472

Augustana College

$33,000

Elmhurst University

$32,500

Dominican University

$19,943

Loyola University Chicago

$18,990

Benedictine University

$18,530

Wheaton College

$18,096

DePaul University

$17,951

Trinity International University

$17,280

North Central College

$15,822

Judson University

$15,814

Greenville University

17%

Blackburn College

18%

Concordia University Chicago

20%

Trinity Christian College

20%

Judson University

20%

University of St. Francis

20%

Dominican University

21%

Lewis University

23%

Saint Xavier University

25%

Quincy University

25%

Quincy University

60%

Olivet Nazarene University

61%

Judson University

62%

Blackburn College

66%

Monmouth College

66%

North Park University

67%

University of St. Francis

68%

North Central College

68%

Augustana College

69%

DePaul University

69%

Trinity International University

8 to 1

Monmouth College

9 to 1

Wheaton College

10 to 1

North Park University

10 to 1

Trinity Christian College

10 to 1

Judson University

10 to 1

Dominican University

10 to 1

Greenville University

10 to 1

11 to 1

Blackburn College

11 to 1

Blackburn College

$25,570

$28,360

Greenville University

$29,810

Judson University

$29,870

Quincy University

$31,160

North Park University

$33,050

McKendree University

$33,050

Trinity International University

$33,298

Trinity Christian College

$33,325

Benedictine University

$34,290

Greenville University

$8,568

Illinois College

$9,000

Concordia University Chicago

$9,090

McKendree University

$9,756

Trinity Christian College

$10,458

Quincy University

$12,000

Olivet Nazarene University

$12,190

University of St. Francis

$13,464

North Park University

$14,004

Lewis University

$14,760

Colleges and Universities in Illinois

Prospective students searching for colleges in Illinois have plenty of excellent schools to choose from. Illinois offers over 130 higher education institutes throughout the state. Thanks to an expansive public university system and several top private institutions, students can select from an extremely wide array of brick-and-mortar and online colleges in Illinois.

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the University of Illinois at Chicago, the state’s two largest public universities in Illinois. Students can access a full spectrum of undergraduate and graduate degrees for in-state tuition rates of $13,000 to $15,000 respectively. Both public universities also offer a full selection of online degree programs.

It’s also worth noting that Illinois residents who pursue online degrees at public colleges in Illinois will qualify for in-state tuition rates. Out of state students will generally pay more whether pursuing on-campus or online degrees.

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More than half of the colleges in Illinois are actually private schools. Among these private colleges and universities, the most notable are DePaul University, Northwestern University, and Loyola University Chicago. Tuition from these three private schools can be costly, ranging from $44,000 to $55,000. However, each of these private schools boasts a high graduation rate and excellent professors.

Illinois is also home to many small private schools, including Benedictine University and National Louis University.

Popular disciplines in Illinois include disciplines like criminal justice, social work, nursing, education, religious studies, communications, and medicine. Both traditional and online students have a wide range of options in each of these subject areas.

Degree completion programs are also widely available for lapsed students who have already accumulated some college credits. This is an especially popular online degree option among working professionals in Illinois.

Additionally, Illinois offers several loan forgiveness-based financial aid programs for qualifying students pursuing careers as teachers, public defenders or prosecutors, or nurses.

From the skyscrapers in Chicago to the vast prairie lands in the north, Illinois is a place where city meets country. Students can grab a Chicago-style hotdog on the way to a Cubs game, explore the ancient sandstone cliffs in the Shawnee National Forest, or admire an exhibit at the Art Institute of Chicago, all while attending one of The Prairie State’s universities or colleges.

The higher education institutes in Illinois have also produced many prominent alumni, including Stephen Colbert, Phillip Glass, and Kurt Vonnegut. Students hoping to walk the same streets as these well-known individuals can check out some of the state’s top programs and universities.

What are Illinois’s Colleges & Universities?

Illinois’s Best Overall

The following list of the best Christian schools consists entirely of colleges and universities that offer four-year undergraduate degrees. We’ve identified 24 Christian colleges in Illinois. In order to be included in this ranking list of best Christian colleges and universities, a school must self-identify as Christian, be fully accredited, and offer a broad range of bachelor degree programs.

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How do we determine Illinois's best Christian colleges and universities?

The people affiliated with a school are ultimately what make it great! If you are serious about finding the best colleges and universities for a bachelor’s degree, you should be asking where the most influential professors are teaching and whether their graduates are themselves advancing the school’s reputation for academic excellence in their fields of study.

Most ranking sites rely on an opaque combination of reputation surveys and arbitrary performance metrics. Concentrated Influence provides a ranking that is freer from bias, insulated from manipulation, and reflective of real-world educational outcomes.

To rank the influence of schools, we first determine the influence of scholars and professionals based on the number of citations and publications they have had over the past 10 years. In addition to publications and citations, we consider the web links to and from these sources, and the page views of those sources. We then match the influential people to their alma maters and institutions of employment, so that their influence is attributed to those schools. Our machine-learning Influence Ranking algorithm produces a numerical score of academic achievements, merits, and citations across Wikipedia, wikidata, Crossref, Semantic Scholar and an ever-growing body of data. If you are interested in exploring how and why we rank by influence, explore our methodology in more depth.

Best Christian Colleges in Illinois 2022

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Illinois’s Best Christian Colleges in Your Area of Interest

2021 Ranking Archive

Many of our 2022 undergraduate focused rankings look considerably different than 2021. That’s because we took a fundamentally different apporach. For 2021 we utilized our Concentrated Influence algorithm, designed to take away the size advantage larger schools have when we rank their faculty and alumni’s academic influence. Concentrated influence highlights smaller schools that are proportionally as successful as larger universities at cultivating influential alumni and faculty.