Eastern Illinois University
Public College in Charleston, IL. Six-year graduation rate 47%. Median 10-year earnings $51,989.
Students who entered Eastern Illinois University land at a median of $51,989 a decade later, close to what most four-year schools deliver. The six-year graduation rate is 47%, meaning about one in two students who start do not finish. Graduates carry a median of $21,500 in debt — in line with the national norm.
Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
- ! Mobility score 1.0 — limited economic uplift documented
Admissions
An acceptance rate of 65% puts Eastern Illinois University on the accessible end — a realistic target for a broad range of applicants. With 12,539 applications received, this is a school operating at national scale. Yield is low at 10%, so most admitted students do not end up enrolling. The score bands below rest on the 3% of enrolled first-years who submitted an SAT score — a self-selected group, and not a cutoff.
Test score bands (middle 50% of submitters)
These bands describe the enrolled first-years who submitted a score, not the entering class. Where most students apply test-optional the submitters are a self-selected, higher-scoring group.
| Test | 25th–75th percentile | Submitted |
|---|---|---|
| SAT Evidence-Based Reading | 460–560 | 22 (3%) |
| SAT Math | 420–530 | |
| ACT Composite | — | — |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Eastern Illinois University →Academics
Completion is middling: 47% finish inside six years. Retention of 72% means a meaningful slice of each entering class does not return. Retention and completion are close, which places the gap between entering and finishing almost entirely in year one. Transfer-out runs to 29% — common enough at this school that the completion rate is measuring a smaller group than the entering class. A 14:1 ratio points to small classes and accessible faculty.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 4,398 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Students pay an average of $13,787 annually, well below typical undergraduate net price. Aid is steeply need-based: families in the $0–30k band pay $9,828 while those at $110k+ pay $21,027. Most students get help: 86% receive grants worth $13,020 on average. 49% of students take federal loans, a middling borrowing rate.
Entering first-year students
A different, smaller group than the rates above: full-time students in their first year of college anywhere. The grant series here also excludes the "other sources" counted in the all-undergraduate figure, so the two are not comparable.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · 813 students
Net price by family income
The same students as the headline above, limited to those who received Title IV federal aid — a narrower group, with a lower overall average. IPEDS publishes no combined figure across these bands, so they should not be averaged into one.
| Family income band | Average net price |
|---|---|
| $0–30k | $9,828 |
| $30–48k | $8,619 |
| $48–75k | $11,412 |
| $75–110k | $15,665 |
| $110k+ | $21,027 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 2,149 of these 4,398 students, totalling $15,811,697 — an average of $7,358 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Coles County) — budget these against any cost-of-attendance housing estimate.
HUD Fair Market Rents (40th-percentile gross rent incl. utilities) · FY2026
Veterans & GI Bill
VA GI Bill Comparison Tool (Veterans Affairs GIDS)