Liberal arts colleges are a great option for students seeking a well-rounded education in an intimate campus setting. The best liberal arts colleges in Illinois offer a diverse selection of degree programs with opportunities for a highly individualized educational experience.
Illinois offers over 130 higher education institutes throughout the state. More than half of those schools are private, including the well-known DePaul University, Northwestern University, and Loyola University Chicago. While tuition at these three private schools can be costly, ranging from $44,000 to $55,000, graduation rates are high. Tuition at the University of Illinois at Chicago and Illinois State University, the state’s two largest public universities, however, is lower, falling in the range of $13,000 to $15,000.
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While some of these universities have large student populations, Illinois is also home to many small schools, including Benedictine University and National Louis University. Students choosing to study at one at an Illinois college can pursue degrees in areas like criminal justice, social work, nursing, education, religious studies, communications, and medicine. Additionally, Illinois offers several loan forgiveness program 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, Hugh Hefner, 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.
Related: Differences between research universities and teaching colleges
A liberal arts college is a school that puts a premium on undergraduate studies and offers a broad range of subjects for students to study. A college of liberal arts typically provides smaller class sizes, more direct engagement with professors, and, most importantly, the opportunity to sample a wide range of subject areas on the way to a bachelor’s degree. We’ve identified a total of 39 liberal arts colleges and universities in Illinois, 29 of which meet our criteria. The list below of the 25 best liberal arts schools in the state satisfies the following four conditions:
The people affiliated with a school are ultimately what make it great. This is why, at the undergraduate level, we rank the best colleges and universities based on what we call “Concentrated Influence”. Concentrated Influence takes the combined influence score of a college or university’s top academic influencers (including faculty and alums) and divides it by the school’s total number of undergraduates.
Using concentrated influence gives small and mid-sized schools an opportunity to shine by taking away the size advantage of larger universities. A small school with proportionately more influential faculty than a large school, whose influence in absolute terms may be bigger, will nonetheless score higher in a concentrated influence ranking. Our approach highlights undergraduate schools that truly rank for excellence, regardless of size.
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.
Most ranking sites rely on an opaque combination of reputation surveys and arbitrary performance metrics. Concentrated Influence provides a ranking that is free from bias, insulated from manipulation, and reflective of real-world educational outcomes.
Find out more about our ranking methodology here.
Tuition + fees
$39K
Acceptance
87%
Graduation
88%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1330/29
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Wheaton College ’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$50K
Acceptance
71%
Graduation
71%
Student body
1K
Median SAT/ACT
1220/27
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Knox College ’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$12K
Acceptance
77%
Graduation
55%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1107/22
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University of Illinois Springfield’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$31K
Acceptance
92%
Graduation
75%
Student body
<1K
Median SAT/ACT
1114/24
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Principia College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$41K
Acceptance
69%
Graduation
58%
Student body
<1K
Median SAT/ACT
1080/22
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Monmouth College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$51K
Acceptance
57%
Graduation
82%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1220/26
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Illinois Wesleyan University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$50K
Acceptance
58%
Graduation
75%
Student body
2K
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Lake Forest College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$35K
Acceptance
75%
Graduation
68%
Student body
1K
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Illinois College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$35K
Acceptance
73%
Graduation
76%
Student body
5K
Median SAT/ACT
1170/25
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Bradley University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$35K
Acceptance
76%
Graduation
63%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1100/22
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Dominican University ’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$12K
Acceptance
56%
Graduation
51%
Student body
6K
Median SAT/ACT
1035/20
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Eastern Illinois University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$41K
Acceptance
53%
Graduation
66%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1145/24
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North Central College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$45K
Acceptance
57%
Graduation
77%
Student body
3K
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Augustana College ’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$39K
Acceptance
66%
Graduation
68%
Student body
4K
Median SAT/ACT
1100/23
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Elmhurst University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$37K
Acceptance
67%
Graduation
65%
Student body
4K
Median SAT/ACT
1070/22
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Olivet Nazarene University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$40K
Acceptance
71%
Graduation
53%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1075/23
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Millikin University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$13K
Acceptance
67%
Graduation
46%
Student body
7K
Median SAT/ACT
1050/21
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Western Illinois University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$32K
Acceptance
64%
Graduation
64%
Student body
1K
Median SAT/ACT
1060/23
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Trinity Christian College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$31K
Acceptance
67%
Graduation
50%
Student body
1K
Median SAT/ACT
1070/22
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Quincy University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$10K
Acceptance
48%
Graduation
24%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
935/19
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Governors State University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$35K
Acceptance
79%
Graduation
56%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1050/21
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Saint Xavier University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$34K
Acceptance
66%
Graduation
70%
Student body
5K
Median SAT/ACT
1105/24
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Lewis University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$32K
Acceptance
70%
Graduation
54%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1063/23
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McKendree University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$32K
Acceptance
44%
Graduation
59%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1075/22
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North Park University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$28K
Acceptance
61%
Graduation
60%
Student body
<1K
Median SAT/ACT
1040/20
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Eureka College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
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