Illinois College
Private College in Jacksonville, IL. Six-year graduation rate 64%. Median 10-year earnings $52,575.
Students who entered Illinois College land at a median of $52,575 a decade later, close to what most four-year schools deliver. Six-year completion sits at 64%, near the national average for undergraduate institutions. Graduates carry a median of $25,565 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
Admissions
78% of applicants get in, so the odds favor most reasonably prepared students. 3,820 students applied in the most recent cycle — a mid-sized pool drawn mostly from the surrounding region. Only 8% of admitted students enroll — the great majority of admits go elsewhere or nowhere. 37% of enrolled first-years submitted an SAT score. The bands below describe the middle half of that group, not of the class.
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 | 450–590 | 90 (37%) |
| SAT Math | 433–590 | |
| ACT Composite | 19–26 | 30 (12%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Illinois College →Academics
Completion is middling: 64% finish inside six years. Retention of 71% means a meaningful slice of each entering class does not return. A 12:1 ratio points to small classes and accessible faculty. Judge these figures against other institutions of the same type — sector explains more of the variation in completion than any single campus factor. The undergraduate body is just 956, which shapes everything from class size to how often a required course is offered.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 914 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Students pay an average of $17,375 annually once grants are applied. The income table below is the number that matters — $12,487 at $0–30k versus $25,788 at $110k+. 98% of students get grant aid averaging $30,221, so the published price is a poor guide to what most pay. Borrowing is widespread: 87% take federal loans.
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 · 253 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 | $12,487 |
| $30–48k | $10,910 |
| $48–75k | $12,569 |
| $75–110k | $16,826 |
| $110k+ | $25,788 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 791 of these 914 students, totalling $5,211,749 — an average of $6,589 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Morgan 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)