Borrowing and outcomes
Student debt at Illinois colleges
Across the 117 Illinois colleges that report both figures, median federal student debt at graduation is $18,149, and a median of 44.4% of students take federal loans. Those two numbers belong together: the dollar figure describes only the students who borrowed, so it means something quite different at a college where most students borrow than at one where few do.
Which student-debt number this is
This page measures debt at graduation, by college: what students who borrowed had taken in federal loans by the time they finished at a particular Illinois institution. Most published “average student debt in Illinois” figures measure something else, the total balance carried by borrowers who live in Illinois, which includes graduate-school borrowing and years of accrued interest and is therefore much larger. Both are real; they answer different questions. Use this one to compare colleges, not to estimate a lifetime balance.
Median debt at graduation
$18,149
Middle half: $8,500 to $23,875
Median share who borrow
44.4%
Across 117 colleges
Illustrative monthly payment
$206/mo
10-year standard plan at 6.52%
Illinois colleges by median federal debt at graduation
Lowest median debt first, showing 60 of 117 colleges (52 public, 65 private). This is a sort of one reported figure, not a ranking and not a recommendation. Every row shows the borrower share beside the dollar amount because neither number means much alone.
| College | Median federal debt | Share who borrow | Illustrative payment | Earnings 10 yrs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. Augustine CollegeChicago, IL · Private four-year | $4,423 | 5.4% | $50/mo | $35,723 |
| City Colleges of Chicago-Richard J Daley CollegeChicago, IL · Public two-year | $4,500 | 0.2% | $51/mo | $37,962 |
| Carl Sandburg CollegeGalesburg, IL · Public two-year | $4,909 | 15.2% | $56/mo | $35,274 |
| Oakton CollegeDes Plaines, IL · Public two-year | $5,250 | 0.4% | $60/mo | $47,852 |
| City Colleges of Chicago-Harold Washington CollegeChicago, IL · Public two-year | $5,750 | 2.1% | $65/mo | $36,531 |
| City Colleges of Chicago-Kennedy-King CollegeChicago, IL · Public two-year | $6,180 | 3% | $70/mo | $28,467 |
| Lake Land CollegeMattoon, IL · Public two-year | $6,188 | 6.1% | $70/mo | $38,877 |
| McHenry County CollegeCrystal Lake, IL · Public two-year | $6,260 | 1.8% | $71/mo | $45,143 |
| City Colleges of Chicago-Wilbur Wright CollegeChicago, IL · Public two-year | $6,500 | 0.6% | $74/mo | $41,625 |
| Frontier Community CollegeFairfield, IL · Public two-year | $6,500 | 1.3% | $74/mo | $37,533 |
| Lincoln Trail CollegeRobinson, IL · Public two-year | $6,500 | 9.4% | $74/mo | $37,533 |
| Olney Central CollegeOlney, IL · Public two-year | $6,500 | 7% | $74/mo | $37,533 |
| Wabash Valley CollegeMount Carmel, IL · Public two-year | $6,500 | 5.2% | $74/mo | $37,533 |
| Lewis and Clark Community CollegeGodfrey, IL · Public two-year | $6,751 | 16.1% | $77/mo | $37,724 |
| Southwestern Illinois CollegeBelleville, IL · Public two-year | $6,908 | 10.2% | $79/mo | $36,884 |
| City Colleges of Chicago-Harry S Truman CollegeChicago, IL · Public two-year | $6,997 | 1.2% | $80/mo | $36,484 |
| Waubonsee Community CollegeSugar Grove, IL · Public two-year | $7,000 | 7.2% | $80/mo | $44,788 |
| Danville Area Community CollegeDanville, IL · Public two-year | $7,218 | 7.1% | $82/mo | $34,867 |
| Elgin Community CollegeElgin, IL · Public two-year | $7,390 | 3.2% | $84/mo | $45,516 |
| Midwestern Career CollegeChicago, IL · Private two-year | $7,521 | 45.7% | $85/mo | $36,432 |
| City Colleges of Chicago-Olive-Harvey CollegeChicago, IL · Public two-year | $7,646 | 2.9% | $87/mo | $31,114 |
| Heartland Community CollegeNormal, IL · Public two-year | $7,826 | 8.1% | $89/mo | $40,768 |
| Morton CollegeCicero, IL · Public two-year | $8,000 | 1.4% | $91/mo | $42,406 |
| John Wood Community CollegeQuincy, IL · Public two-year | $8,029 | 15% | $91/mo | $38,631 |
| Illinois Valley Community CollegeOglesby, IL · Public two-year | $8,233 | 2.7% | $94/mo | $40,810 |
| Sauk Valley Community CollegeDixon, IL · Public two-year | $8,250 | 8.4% | $94/mo | $40,458 |
| Richland Community CollegeDecatur, IL · Public two-year | $8,256 | 8.7% | $94/mo | $38,793 |
| Black Hawk CollegeMoline, IL · Public two-year | $8,375 | 6.8% | $95/mo | $37,253 |
| City Colleges of Chicago-Malcolm X CollegeChicago, IL · Public two-year | $8,375 | 2.5% | $95/mo | $32,427 |
| Rock Valley CollegeRockford, IL · Public two-year | $8,500 | 3.8% | $97/mo | $39,158 |
| Parkland CollegeChampaign, IL · Public two-year | $8,548 | 15.1% | $97/mo | $38,320 |
| College of Lake CountyGrayslake, IL · Public two-year | $8,735 | 1.9% | $99/mo | $43,424 |
| Illinois Central CollegeEast Peoria, IL · Public two-year | $8,900 | 7.1% | $101/mo | $37,366 |
| Kishwaukee CollegeMalta, IL · Public two-year | $9,395 | 7.3% | $107/mo | $39,657 |
| Triton CollegeRiver Grove, IL · Public two-year | $9,413 | 2.4% | $107/mo | $41,728 |
| Moraine Valley Community CollegePalos Hills, IL · Public two-year | $9,500 | 3.2% | $108/mo | $43,892 |
| Joliet Junior CollegeJoliet, IL · Public two-year | $9,711 | 2.5% | $110/mo | $42,889 |
| Kankakee Community CollegeKankakee, IL · Public two-year | $9,969 | 4.9% | $113/mo | $38,767 |
| William Rainey Harper CollegePalatine, IL · Public two-year | $10,184 | 2.1% | $116/mo | $48,071 |
| College of DuPageGlen Ellyn, IL · Public two-year | $10,410 | 8.7% | $118/mo | $46,909 |
| Prairie State CollegeChicago Heights, IL · Public two-year | $11,000 | 7.5% | $125/mo | $36,696 |
| Lincoln Land Community CollegeSpringfield, IL · Public two-year | $11,011 | 20.8% | $125/mo | $38,479 |
| Lincoln College of Technology-Melrose ParkMelrose Park, IL · Private two-year | $11,250 | 78% | $128/mo | $38,683 |
| Morrison Institute of TechnologyMorrison, IL · Private two-year | $12,000 | 77.9% | $136/mo | $63,571 |
| National University of Health SciencesLombard, IL · Private four-year | $12,500 | 27.3% | $142/mo | $58,723 |
| CAAN Academy of NursingMatteson, IL · Private two-year | $12,766 | 61.2% | $145/mo | Not reported |
| Blessing Rieman College of Nursing and Health SciencesQuincy, IL · Private four-year | $13,000 | 45.8% | $148/mo | $72,430 |
| Hebrew Theological CollegeSkokie, IL · Private four-year | $14,000 | 13.1% | $159/mo | $33,291 |
| Stautzenberger College-Rockford Career CollegeRockford, IL · Private two-year | $14,302 | 85% | $163/mo | $34,104 |
| Northeastern Illinois UniversityChicago, IL · Public four-year | $14,600 | 21.7% | $166/mo | $52,234 |
| Lakeview College of NursingDanville, IL · Private four-year | $15,000 | 59.5% | $170/mo | $84,522 |
| Northwestern UniversityEvanston, IL · Private four-year | $15,000 | 18.8% | $170/mo | $89,363 |
| Saint Francis Medical Center College of NursingPeoria, IL · Private four-year | $15,000 | 48% | $170/mo | $72,850 |
| University of ChicagoChicago, IL · Private four-year | $15,000 | 5.1% | $170/mo | $91,885 |
| Worsham College of Mortuary ScienceWheeling, IL · Private two-year | $15,024 | 64.9% | $171/mo | $61,574 |
| Ambria College of NursingHoffman Estates, IL · Private two-year | $15,438 | 47.4% | $175/mo | $67,290 |
| Fox CollegeTinley Park, IL · Private two-year | $16,209 | 78.6% | $184/mo | $41,539 |
| University of Illinois ChicagoChicago, IL · Public four-year | $16,704 | 25% | $190/mo | $68,740 |
| Moody Bible InstituteChicago, IL · Private four-year | $18,149 | 38.9% | $206/mo | $45,399 |
| Governors State UniversityUniversity Park, IL · Public four-year | $18,618 | 39.9% | $212/mo | $58,169 |
The illustrative payment assumes the standard 10-year federal repayment plan at 6.52%, the U.S. Department of Education, fixed rate for undergraduate Direct Loans first disbursed July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027. It is an illustration, not a quote.
What the Illinois borrowing data shows
- Across the 117 Illinois colleges reporting both figures, median federal debt at graduation is $18,149 and the median borrower share is 44.4%. The middle half of these colleges falls between $8,500 and $23,875.
- On the standard 10-year federal repayment plan at 6.52%, $18,149 works out to about $206 a month for 10 years. That is an illustration of one repayment plan, not a quote: income-driven plans produce very different payments, and a real borrower's loans carry the rate in force in each year they borrowed.
- The borrower share varies far more than the dollar figure. At City Colleges of Chicago-Richard J Daley College 0.2% of students take federal loans; at Trinity College of Nursing & Health Sciences it is 97.5%. Read the two numbers together — a low median at a college where almost nobody borrows describes the few who did, not the typical student.
- Median earnings ten years after entry, across the 116 Illinois colleges here that report it, is $47,967. That figure covers students who received federal aid and reflects the mix of programs and students at each college, not the effect of attending it.
How these figures were built
Every number comes from the U.S. Department of Education (College Scorecard / IPEDS), as carried in CampusPin’s committed snapshot of 2026-08-13. Nothing is recomputed, modelled, or imputed.
An institution appears here only if it reports bothmedian federal debt at graduation and the share of students receiving federal loans. Median debt without the borrower share is the misleading half of the statistic, so a college reporting one and not the other is excluded rather than shown incomplete. Institutions sharing an identical debt, borrower-share and earnings tuple are also excluded, because that pattern means one record’s series was attached to several colleges upstream and the figure cannot be attributed to a single school.
Federal loans only. Private loans, parent PLUS borrowing, and money families pay without borrowing are not in this data, so real household borrowing is higher than these figures. Median debt describes students who borrowed and completed, not all students. Figures reflect a prior cohort and lag the current academic year by one to two federal reporting cycles.
Frequently asked questions
- How much student debt do Illinois college graduates have?
- Across the 117 Illinois colleges that report both figures, the median federal loan debt at graduation is $18,149, and a median of 44.4% of students take federal loans. Individual colleges range from $4,423 to $31,250. These are federal loans only, so households that also used private or parent PLUS loans borrowed more than this.
- Does a low average debt figure mean a college is affordable?
- Not on its own. Median debt describes only the students who borrowed and completed. A college where 15% of students borrow can post a low median while most families pay a high price out of pocket, and a college where most students borrow can post a modest median because its price is genuinely low. Always read the dollar figure together with the share who borrow, which is why this page never shows one without the other.
- Is this every college in Illinois?
- No. This page covers the 117 Illinois institutions in CampusPin's dataset that report BOTH median debt at graduation and the borrower share. A college reporting only one of the two is excluded rather than shown with half the statistic. CampusPin's dataset is also not the complete federal Title IV universe.
- Why is this lower than the average student debt figure I have seen for Illinois?
- Because they measure different things. This page reports median federal debt AT GRADUATION for students at Illinois colleges. The widely published state figures report the total federal balance carried by borrowers who RESIDE in a state, which includes graduate-school borrowing and years of accrued interest on loans taken long ago, so it is substantially higher. Neither is wrong. Use debt at graduation to compare colleges against each other, and the residence figure to understand what people in a state currently owe.
- What is not counted in these figures?
- Private student loans, parent PLUS borrowing, and money families pay without borrowing are all outside this data, so real household cost is higher than the numbers here. The figures also reflect a prior graduating cohort and lag the current academic year by one to two federal reporting cycles.
Limitations of this data
- Median debt covers FEDERAL loans only. Private loans, parent PLUS borrowing, and money families pay without borrowing are not included, so real household cost is higher than this figure.
- It describes students who BORROWED and completed, not all students. Read it together with the borrower share on the same row.
- Figures reflect a prior cohort and lag the current academic year by one to two federal reporting cycles.
- Median earnings ten years out covers students who received federal financial aid, and reflects the mix of programs and students at each institution, not the effect of attending it.
- Reflects institutions in CampusPin's dataset, NOT the full federal Title IV universe.
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Data sources & methodology
Debt, borrower-share, and earnings figures for Illinois colleges come from federal collections reported by each institution.
Sources used across this page
Not every source informs every figure. Each data point draws on the source appropriate to it see the relevant section and the data dictionary for field-level provenance.
IPEDS / NCES College Navigator
Federal enrollment, admissions, tuition, retention, and program data. Released annually with a 1–2 year lag.
U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard
Net price by income band, post-graduation earnings, and federal aid context.
Institutional websites
Each school's official admissions, registrar, and financial-aid pages are the authoritative source for current details.
Where a value is unavailable it is shown as unavailable, never as 0, free, or a negative judgment. Always confirm final details with the institution before applying.
Suggested citation
CampusPin. Student Debt at Illinois Colleges. Retrieved from https://campuspin.com/student-debt/illinois