Illinois Media School
For-profit College in Chicago, IL. Median 10-year earnings $38,284.
Students who entered Illinois Media School reach a median of $38,284 a decade later, a figure that trails the typical four-year outcome. Median debt at graduation is $9,500, a light load against those earnings.
Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.
- ✓ Debt-to-income ratio 0.25 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Academics
The federal six-year graduation rate is not published here — typically because the entering cohort this measure follows is too small or too atypical to report. Treat completion as unknown rather than assuming either direction. First-year retention is 67% — the single largest point of attrition on this campus. At 7:1, students get materially more instructor contact than at a typical public university. Being a for-profit short-program school is the single most useful context for these numbers — the sector's spread is wide enough that the school-level figures matter more than usual. The undergraduate body is just 141, 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 141 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Average net price after grant aid is $26,732 a year — mid-range for a four-year institution. The gap between the $0–30k and $75–110k bands is narrow ($26,604 versus $31,815), meaning aid is not strongly need-weighted. Grant aid reaches 59% of students at an average of $5,191. Most students borrow — 57% take federal loans to cover the gap.
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 · 30 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 | $26,604 |
| $30–48k | $28,069 |
| $48–75k | $29,593 |
| $75–110k | $31,815 |
| $110k+ | — |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 81 of these 141 students, totalling $591,733 — an average of $7,305 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Cook 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)