Southern Illinois University-Carbondale
Public Research University in Carbondale, IL. Six-year graduation rate 62%. Median 10-year earnings $53,390.
Students who entered Southern Illinois University-Carbondale land at a median of $53,390 a decade later, close to what most four-year schools deliver. 62% finish within six years — respectable, though a meaningful share still leave without a credential. Median debt at graduation is $21,543, roughly typical for an undergraduate degree.
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
Admission is not the constraint here: 87% of applicants are accepted. 10,858 students applied, a pool deep enough to make the acceptance rate meaningful. A 19% yield rate is low: the admitted pool is much larger than the entering class. Read the score bands below narrowly: only 37% of enrolled first-years submitted an SAT score, and test-optional applicants are not represented in them.
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 | 470–590 | 644 (37%) |
| SAT Math | 430–570 | |
| ACT Composite | 18–25 | 143 (8%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale →Academics
Completion is middling: 62% finish inside six years. First-year retention is 67% — the single largest point of attrition on this campus. The part-time picture is harder: 28% return, against 67% full-time. At 11:1, students get materially more instructor contact than at a typical public university. As a public four-year university, 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 8,117 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
At $13,473 a year on average after grant aid, cost is low here relative to most undergraduate institutions. The income table below is the number that matters — $9,415 at $0–30k versus $23,254 at $110k+. 83% of students receive grant aid, averaging $13,369 — common but not automatic. About 45% borrow federally, roughly the national pattern.
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 · 1,580 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 | $9,415 |
| $30–48k | $8,497 |
| $48–75k | $10,308 |
| $75–110k | $17,724 |
| $110k+ | $23,254 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 3,655 of these 8,117 students, totalling $24,249,761 — an average of $6,635 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Jackson 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)