What You'll Actually Pay
Price after grants
$2,038 to $28,761 a year for in-state students, depending on income.
College Scorecard 2024 estimate · in-state rates
See the price at your income ↑Sticker price
Full cost before aid: $33,642 a year in-state. Average need-based aid package: $25,495.Aid and debt
37.5%
receive need-based grants
$22,040
average debt at graduation
5,549
students got merit aid
about 14% of undergraduates
$6,282
average merit award
Getting In
Key dates
Test scores
SAT, middle 50% of those who submitted: 1390–1520 · 43% of the class submitted
ACT, middle 50% of those who submitted: 31–34 · 14% of the class submitted
61.6% were in the top 10% of their high school class.
What they value
- Very important
- Course rigor (AP/IB)
- GPA
- Extracurriculars
- Special talent
- Character
- First-gen status
- Important
- Personal essay
- Considered
- SAT/ACT scores
- Where you're from
- In-state residency
- Volunteer work
- Work experience
- Not considered
- Class rank
- Recommendations
- Legacy status
- Demonstrated interest
What this means for you
UIUC rates course rigor, your activities, and your first-gen status as Very Important, and your essay as Important.
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Rigor means AP, IB, and dual enrollment carry real weight — make sure your mix of AP or IB courses is strong. Depth in a few activities beats a long list. Being first-generation is a real plus in the decision here. And a strong essay can differentiate an otherwise average application.
UIUC doesn't consider demonstrated interest in admissions at all — visits and follow-up emails won't move the needle here.
Source: Common Data Set 2025–26, Section C7 (admissions factors)
UIUC just showed you what it values in an application. Use that to write a Why-UIUC essay that's actually about you — not a template.
Get sourced starting points for your essayStudent Life
37.5% of UIUC classes have fewer than 20 students.
37.5%
under 20 students
43.1%
20 to 49
19.4%
50 or more
Every class section counts, labs and seminars included; first-year courses tend to be larger. UIUC CDS 2025–26, I-3.
20:1
student:faculty ratio
Campus life
13.1%
first-years from out of state
37%
live on campus
15%
of men in fraternities
21%
of women in sororities
Who attends
- White36.6%
- Asian21.7%
- Hispanic14.7%
- Black5.2%
- Multiracial4.2%
- Unknown / other2.1%
Enrolled undergraduates; international students are counted separately and not included. UIUC CDS 2025–26, B2.
Popular majors
Will They Graduate?
74.3% of UIUC students graduate in 4 years.
74.3%
finish in 4 years
Entered fall 2019
86.3%
finish in 6 years
Entered fall 2019
95.3%
return after first year
Finishing late means paying for extra semesters, so the 4-year rate is the one that shows the cost.
Students with Pell Grants
81% finish in 6 years, against 86.3% of all students.
A 5.3-point gap: Pell Grant students finish less often than students overall.
City & Culture
Beyond the data — what it's actually like to spend four years in Champaign.
Champaign-Urbana is a self-contained college town in the middle of Illinois farmland, and that turns out to be a real strength — almost everything students need is within biking distance, rent is low, and campus life is the main event rather than competing with a city.
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Green Street runs right through the middle of it with restaurants and shops aimed squarely at students. It suits students who want a tight, walkable campus community; Chicago is about two and a half hours away by car or Amtrak when you want a big-city weekend.
The City
College town
Champaign, IL
Best For
Notable alumni
Notable Alumni
Marc Andreessen
Co-created Mosaic, the first widely used web browser, while an undergraduate at Illinois, then co-founded Netscape.
Jack Kilby
Invented the integrated circuit, the foundation of every modern computer, and won the Nobel Prize in Physics for it.
Roger Ebert
The first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize, and editor of Illinois's student newspaper, The Daily Illini.
Suze Orman
Personal finance author and broadcaster whose books on money management have sold millions of copies.
Ang Lee
Film director who won Academy Awards for Brokeback Mountain and Life of Pi after studying theater at Illinois.
Iris Chang
Journalist and historian whose bestselling book The Rape of Nanking brought a largely untold history to Western readers.
Alumni selected for name recognition and range of fields. Not from the Common Data Set.
Traditions
Traditions
Quad Day
On the Sunday before fall classes, more than a thousand student organizations line the Main Quad to recruit. It's held rain or shine and is how most first-years find their clubs, teams, and cultural organizations.
Homecoming
Illinois students invented the modern college homecoming in 1910, and the university still runs one of the oldest continuous celebrations in the country. The week includes a parade through campus and the Spirit Walk.
Engineering Open House
Each spring, engineering students open their labs and build public exhibits — robots, concrete canoes, rocket engines — for tens of thousands of visitors, including busloads of K-12 students. It's entirely student-run.
Weekend escapes from Champaign
Weekend Escapes
Within driving distance from Champaign
Chicago
2.5 hoursMuseums, food, and a huge concert circuit, reachable by car or a direct Amtrak line from campus.
Starved Rock State Park
2 hoursCanyons, waterfalls, and bluff trails along the Illinois River — the closest real hiking to campus.
Indianapolis
2 hoursA walkable downtown, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and NBA and NFL games without Chicago-level prices.
Getting there and game days
Getting There & Game Days
Nearest airport
University of Illinois Willard (CMI)
10 minutes from campus
For international flights: Chicago O'Hare International (ORD) — about 2.5 hours by car.
Pro sports nearby
- St. Louis Cardinals MLBAbout 3 hours away
- Chicago Cubs MLBAbout 2.5 hours away
- Peoria Chiefs MiLBAbout 1.5 hours away
Internships and jobs nearby
Career Proximity
Research Park sits on campus and hosts corporate innovation offices, so many Illinois students hold paid internships during the school year without leaving town.
Top Industries Nearby
Major Employers
- John Deere
- Caterpillar
- Abbott
- State Farm
- University of Illinois Research Park
Research Park is on campus; Chicago is about 2.5 hours away
Who thrives here
Who Thrives Here
UIUC runs serious engineering and computer science programs while admitting 37% of applicants, which makes it one of the few places offering this caliber without lottery-ticket odds. Campus is the whole world here rather than one neighborhood of a city — more than a thousand student organizations recruit on the Main Quad in a single day each fall — and the school meets 79% of demonstrated need, so run the aid numbers early.