Illinois Wesleyan University
Private College in Bloomington, IL. Six-year graduation rate 75%. Median 10-year earnings $70,871.
A decade after enrolling, the median Illinois Wesleyan University student earns $70,871 — comfortably above what the typical bachelor's-granting institution returns. The six-year graduation rate of 75% is well above average and the clearest sign this school holds onto its students. Debt is the pressure point: a median of $27,000 at graduation.
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
Selectivity is real here: only 39% of applicants are offered a place. 9,558 students applied in the most recent cycle — a mid-sized pool drawn mostly from the surrounding region. Only 12% of admitted students enroll — the great majority of admits go elsewhere or nowhere. 21% 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 | 550–670 | 97 (21%) |
| SAT Math | 570–670 | |
| ACT Composite | 25–30 | 46 (10%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Illinois Wesleyan University →Academics
75% of students finish within six years, putting completion well above the national norm. 80% of full-time first-years return for a second year — a healthy figure. Transfer-out runs to 19% — common enough at this school that the completion rate is measuring a smaller group than the entering class. A 12:1 ratio points to small classes and accessible faculty. As a private nonprofit four-year college, the relevant comparison is other four-year schools rather than the national average across all institutions.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 1,570 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Average net price — what students actually pay after grant aid — is $28,644 a year, at the high end of undergraduate cost. Aid is steeply need-based: families in the $0–30k band pay $17,732 while those at $110k+ pay $37,104. Grant aid is widespread — 100% of students receive it, averaging $38,601. Borrowing is widespread: 64% 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 · 441 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 | $17,732 |
| $30–48k | $19,057 |
| $48–75k | $23,152 |
| $75–110k | $27,396 |
| $110k+ | $37,104 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 998 of these 1,570 students, totalling $6,614,531 — an average of $6,628 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (McLean 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)