Home › Colleges › Principia College

College profile

Principia College

IL · Private nonprofit · Fringe rural · 268 applicants 2023

44% admit rate SAT 1040–1250
Get your child's odds at Principia College Free Family Decision Report — Reach / Competitive / Match / Likely + your real net price. Principia College starts already on the list. Start →
Odds at Principia College

Put in your child's GPA and score — we'll show where they land here. Free, and nothing to sign up for.

Most families report the weighted one — it's the higher number, with honors and AP credit in it.

—

This reads the numbers — admit rate, scores, GPA. The real decision also weighs essays, recommendations, activities, and course rigor.

Get their full list — free Family Decision Report →

The free report adds every college on your list — Reach / Competitive / Match / Likely odds, your real net price, and merit-scholarship eligibility. About a minute.

Live odds from each college's own published admissions data.

Parent/student verdict

Moderately selective

Solid match for academically prepared students.

Best for

  • Students drawn to Education or Visual & Performing Arts (the two biggest majors)
  • Families wanting a small liberal-arts experience

The reality

  • You'd be near the bottom of their admitted class if: SAT below 1040, or ACT below 19 (test bands are the school's own; the GPA floor is our estimate, not a published figure)

Verdict is composed from this college's structured data (admit rate, SAT bands, net price with aid and at full price, Carnegie classification, scholarship grids) using transparent rule thresholds — not a chat-bot's opinion.

What are your child's odds here?

Enter their numbers once — this and every college page shows their verdict, and the UC campus cards on California school pages light up with it too. Free, no email.

Weighted is the higher GPA, with honors/AP credit in it — pick whichever your school reports. PSAT scores work in the SAT box.

Institutional snapshot

What kind of college is this?

Carnegie classification
Baccalaureate Colleges: Arts & Sciences Focus
Undergraduates
339
Under 1,000 including graduate students
TuitionThe published full price before any aid. Families who don't qualify for need-based aid at a given college pay this, minus any merit scholarships — whether you qualify depends on the college's price and policies, not on any fixed income line.
$34,680
flat rate (no in/out-of-state split) · 2023–24 federal figure

Sticker price isn't every family's price. Lower- and middle-income families often pay materially less after grants — and there's no income cutoff for need-based aidGrant money based on your family's finances (via FAFSA and the college's own forms), not your student's stats., so at expensive schools even families earning $150–200K can qualify. Where need aid thins out, merit scholarships (where offered) bring the price down instead. Check the school's own net-price calculator for your number.

Admit rateThe share of applicants a college accepts. Useful context, but your student's odds depend on their own grades and scores, not the average.
44.4%
Moderately selective
SAT middle 50%The middle half of the enrolled first-years who sent this test scored in this range — a quarter of them scored BELOW the low end and still got in, and a quarter scored above the high end. At a test-optional college the students who submitted are often a minority of the class, so the range describes them rather than everyone who enrolled. Above the top number is a genuine strength; below the bottom isn't automatic rejection.
1040–1250
EBRW + Math composite
ACT middle 50%The middle half of the enrolled first-years who sent this test scored in this range — a quarter of them scored BELOW the low end and still got in, and a quarter scored above the high end. At a test-optional college the students who submitted are often a minority of the class, so the range describes them rather than everyone who enrolled. Above the top number is a genuine strength; below the bottom isn't automatic rejection.
19–23
composite
Test policyApplicants choose whether to send SAT/ACT scores. At many such colleges, students who submit strong scores are still admitted at higher rates.
Test-optional
2023

38% of enrolled first-years submitted an SAT score, 20% an ACT — these ranges describe students who submitted, not the whole class.

Source: federal IPEDS Admissions 2023 for scores + admit rate; federal College Scorecard (20260606 vintage) for earnings + outcomes. SAT/ACT bands are the 25th–75th percentile of enrolled submitters.

Outcomes & cost

What graduates actually earn, finish, and owe.

Federal College Scorecard data. Earnings are median annual income measured years after entering. Debt is for federal-aid borrowers only (cash-pay students aren't counted).

Graduate within 6 yrsThe share of students who start here and finish a bachelor's within six years — the standard federal measure, and the one College Scorecard publishes. It is not a four-year rate. Read it as the odds of finishing at all: nationally about a third of students who start never do, and an unfinished degree is the most expensive outcome in this decision.
74%

The real cost

What Principia College actually costs

The federal file doesn't carry net-price figures for Principia College, so the published tuition above is the only price we can show you — and it's the price before any aid. That's a gap in the government's data, not a sign this college is expensive or stingy.

Get your family's number — Principia College's Net Price Calculator ↗ 10–15 minutes; have a tax return handy. Federal law requires every college to publish one, and for a college like this it's the best cost answer available.
Start your Family Decision Report →

Your odds + estimated cost across your whole college list, side by side.

Source: federal IPEDS (published tuition) and College Scorecard, which reports net price only for colleges meeting its cohort-size and Title-IV reporting thresholds.

What students study here

Most popular majors at Principia College

Top 5 fields of study by bachelor's degrees awarded (most recent IPEDS Completions). Use this to see what Principia College actually graduates — not just what it markets.

1. Education
15 degrees · 34.9%
Teaching is the largest path. Salary depends heavily on district + state.
2. Visual & Performing Arts
8 degrees · 18.6%
Highly variable. Steady-pay roles cluster in design, illustration, production. Performance careers have very wide income distributions.
3. Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies
7 degrees · 16.3%
Often paired with another field (data + biology, design + tech). Outcomes match the second discipline.
4. Social Sciences
7 degrees · 16.3%
Economics + poli sci sub-disciplines pay much more than sociology + anthropology.
5. Communication, Journalism, & Related
6 degrees · 14.0%
Media, PR, marketing communications. Salary spread is wide.

Sources: IPEDS Completions (C2023_a; bachelor's-level first majors, 2-digit CIP family — share is of the top 5 only). Full college-vs-major comparison: /college-outcomes →

AI program signal

AI + computing education at Principia College

CS degrees (annual)
3
CIP 11.0701 + 11.0101

Full multi-lens comparison: /ai-colleges →

Alternatives to Principia College

Matched not just by selectivity, but by strategic goal — what a family actually decides on.

Better merit-aid options
These similar-selectivity schools publish merit scholarships your family can plan around — your kid’s stats could unlock real scholarship dollars.
University of Alabama in Huntsville
AL · Public
39 stats-based merit scholarships
Texas Tech University
TX · Public
30 stats-based + 1 competitive scholarships
The University of Alabama
AL · Public
21 stats-based + 2 competitive scholarships
Safer in-state options
Same state and similar selectivity, but with a more forgiving admit rate — useful safety / match anchors.
Eastern Illinois University
IL · Public
68% admit rate (vs 44% here)
University of Illinois Chicago
IL · Public
78% admit rate (vs 44% here)
University of Illinois Springfield
IL · Public
84% admit rate (vs 44% here)

Or compare any college side-by-side

Deciding on Principia College?

Get the full picture in one free report — your child's Reach / Competitive / Match / Likely odds and your real net price, for Principia College and every other college on your list.

Get your child's odds at Principia College →

Score-odds calculator · Improve the score first · Find merit aid

For Parents

Get alerts when Principia College's numbers change

New admit rates, costs, and outcomes — a few alerts a year, no spam. Your email also saves your list across devices.

Objective, government-grade data — no school pays us for placement.

At a glance

JSON · Using this page with an AI assistant

Principia College is a private nonprofit four-year college in IL. It admitted 44% of applicants (268 applied, 2023). Test policy: Test-optional.

Middle 50% of enrolled first-years who submitted that test: SAT 1040–1250, ACT 19–23. 38% of enrolled first-years submitted an SAT score, 20% an ACT — these ranges describe students who submitted, not the whole class.

Tuition: $34,680 in-state, $34,680 out-of-state (net price with aid not reported).

Machine-readable version of this page: https://highschoolreach.com/colleges/principia-college.json

Get your child's odds →

What families ask next

Can my kid get in? Score odds calculator → See how a higher SAT or ACT changes admit odds — college by college. What will it cost — and pay back? Earnings by major → What graduates actually earn, program by program. What do we do next? Free Family Decision Report Reach / Competitive / Match / Likely for every college on their list, plus the real cost. Start with a 10-second odds check — no email needed. Check odds →