Here are the most affordable colleges and universities in llinois. Our list will help you find the right kind of school for you, at a price you can afford.
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.
We’ve identified 14 affordable colleges and universities in Illinois with stated tuitions and fees below the national average of $16,000/year.
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
$11K
Acceptance
46%
Graduation
16%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
951/17
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Chicago State 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
$12K
Acceptance
61%
Graduation
23%
Student body
5K
Median SAT/ACT
1015/18
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Northeastern Illinois University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$11K
Acceptance
85%
Graduation
54%
Student body
11K
Median SAT/ACT
1120/23
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Southern Illinois University Edwardsville’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$12K
Graduation
46%
Student body
<1K
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St. Augustine College ’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
$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
$13K
Acceptance
81%
Graduation
68%
Student body
19K
Median SAT/ACT
1120/23
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Illinois State 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
$14K
Acceptance
97%
Graduation
22%
Student body
6K
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National Louis University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$15K
Acceptance
92%
Graduation
48%
Student body
10K
Median SAT/ACT
1140/24
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Southern Illinois University Carbondale’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$14K
Acceptance
59%
Graduation
48%
Student body
14K
Median SAT/ACT
1055/22
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Northern Illinois University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$15K
Acceptance
73%
Graduation
63%
Student body
28K
Median SAT/ACT
1145/24
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University of Illinois Chicago’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Midstate College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
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