University of
Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Public Research University in Champaign, IL. Six-year graduation rate 85%. Median 10-year earnings $81,054.
Ten-year median earnings of $81,054 are the headline number here, and they are strong ones. The six-year graduation rate of 85% is well above average and the clearest sign this school holds onto its students. Median debt at graduation is $19,500, 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.
- ✓ Debt-to-income ratio 0.24 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ Graduation rate 85% — well above the national average
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Admissions
Selectivity is real here: only 42% of applicants are offered a place. With 73,742 applications received, this is a school operating at national scale. Yield sits at 29% — the remainder of admitted students enroll elsewhere or not at all. 48% 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 | 650–740 | 4,310 (48%) |
| SAT Math | 660–780 | |
| ACT Composite | 30–34 | 1,408 (16%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign →Academics
Six-year completion runs to 85% — students who start here overwhelmingly finish here. First-year retention of 95% shows the cohort holds together through the hardest year. At 20:1, class sizes land in the normal range for an undergraduate institution. As a public four-year university, the relevant comparison is other four-year schools rather than the national average across all institutions. With 35,564 undergraduates, this is a large institution — expect the administrative scale and the range of offerings that come with it.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 34,623 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
At $13,973 a year on average after grant aid, cost is low here relative to most undergraduate institutions. Net price swings hard on family income here, from $2,038 at the $0–30k band to $28,761 at $110k+. About 54% get grants averaging $18,024, so plan on the possibility of paying closer to full price. 28% 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 · 8,316 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 | $2,038 |
| $30–48k | $5,373 |
| $48–75k | $7,982 |
| $75–110k | $15,152 |
| $110k+ | $28,761 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 9,736 of these 34,623 students, totalling $57,268,780 — an average of $5,882 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Champaign 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)