At a Glance
UIUC admits 42.4% of applicants.
What You'll Actually Pay
See what families at different income levels actually pay after aid.
What families actually pay, by income level
After grants and scholarships. Before loans. Public school prices shown at in-state rates.
Source: College Scorecard / IPEDS, 2024-25
Where the Sticker Price Goes
Based on average need-based grant. Actual cost varies by family income — see chart above.
Shown at in-state rates.
Debt at Graduation
Not reported by this school
receive need-based grant aid
$22,395
average debt at graduation
UIUC graduates carry an average of $22,395 in debt.
Merit Aid
4,335
students received merit aid
$6,348
average merit award
Getting In
UIUC admits 42.4% of applicants.
SAT mid-50% not reported with a submission rate, so there is no band to chart. This school does not publish what share of its class submitted a score.
ACT mid-50% not reported with a submission rate, so there is no band to chart.
56.1% were in the top 10% of their high school class.
What They Value
Academic
Nonacademic
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign considers your essay Important — a strong essay can differentiate an otherwise average application. Demonstrated interest is Not Considered here — campus visits and emails to admissions won't affect your odds.
Student Life
37.9% of UIUC classes have fewer than 20 students.
Share of undergraduate class sections at each size, from CDS Section I-3. More red = more large lectures.
At UIUC, 37.9% of your classes will have fewer than 20 students.
Class size data reflects all undergraduate sections including labs, seminars, and lectures. Large research universities often have smaller upper-division and graduate-level sections that improve the overall distribution. First and second-year students typically experience larger classes than these averages suggest.
Source: Common Data Set 2024–25, Section I-3 (class sizes)
20:1
student:faculty ratio
Campus Life
From out of state (freshman class)
14.9%
Live on campus
34%
Men in fraternities
14%
Women in sororities
19%
Who Attends
Racial and ethnic breakdown of enrolled undergraduates, as reported in each school's Common Data Set. "Unknown / Other" includes students who did not report or selected "other."
UIUC's student body is 37.2% white.
Popular Majors
Will They Graduate?
UIUC graduates 73.2% of students in 4 years.
Graduating late means paying for extra semesters. The 6-year rate tells you who eventually finishes — the 4-year rate tells you what it actually costs.
UIUC graduates 73.2% of students in 4 years.
What finishing late actually costs
Based on each school's published cost of attendance. Public school costs shown at in-state rates.
UIUC
73.2%
4-yr grad rate
Extra year cost: $33,642*
* In-state cost of attendance. Out-of-state students pay significantly more.
Graduation rate data from Common Data Set 2024–25, Fall 2018 cohort (most recent available). 4-year rate = students completing in 4 years or less. 6-year rate = students completing within 6 years.
85.1%
Overall 6-yr rate
76.9%
Pell recipient rate
An 8.2 point graduation gap between lower-income and overall students suggests financial or academic challenges for some students.
Freshman Retention
94.8%
94.8% of first-year students return for sophomore year.
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. 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.
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.
The City
College town
Champaign, IL
Best For
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
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 & 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
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
UIUC runs serious engineering and computer science programs while admitting 42% 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 78% of demonstrated need, so run the aid numbers early.