College profile
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
IL · Public · Small city · 67,398 applicants 2023
A parent's read
- The major moves the money more than the admit letter. Computer Science grads from here earn about $181,981 four years out; philosophy grads about $34,482 — a 5.3× spread on the same diploma. Have the major conversation before you deposit, not after.
- Built for the AI economy. Top 8 in the country. About 1 in 9 degrees here is already in AI, computer science, or data fields; its AI research output ranks #8 among US universities. This campus is leaning into the shift, not waiting for it.
- The payoff holds even at full price: roughly 6× over a decade. With no aid at all — the full in-state ~$33,642/yr — a decade of median earnings (~$81,054/yr) still runs about 6× the four-year cost. This payoff doesn't depend on qualifying for anything. (Out-of-state costs more.)
- Almost everyone who starts here finishes. 85% graduate within six years — the standard federal measure. Nationally about a third of students who start a bachelor's never finish one, and an unfinished degree is the most expensive outcome in this decision: the debt stays, the credential doesn't.
- Ask the submit question deliberately. This college is test-optional — but at many such colleges, applicants who submit strong scores are admitted at meaningfully higher rates. “Optional” is a strategy decision, not a pass.
Composed from this page's data — every claim is backed by a number in the sections below.
Parent/student verdict
Moderately selectiveSolid match for academically prepared students. Affordable — net price averages ~$14,355/yr among aid recipients.
Best for
- Strong academic profiles — students here cluster in the top test and GPA tiers (bands above)
- Students focused on Engineering (the school's signature program)
- Research-oriented students (R1 — top tier of federal research funding)
- Students who thrive in a large, programmatic environment
The reality
- You'd be near the bottom of their admitted class if: SAT below 1270, or ACT below 29, or unweighted GPA below ~3.80 (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?
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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?
47% of enrolled first-years submitted an SAT score, 18% 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.
High-school GPA
UIUC Admissions First-Year Class Profile ↗
As published by the college in its Common Data Set / admissions data (3-year average (profile current as of July 2026)) — independently verified 2026-07-23 (source linked above). GPA basis (weighted vs. unweighted vs. 4.0-scale) varies by college and is labeled above.
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).
The real cost
What University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign actually costs
Which side your family lands on isn't set by any national income line — it's set by University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign's own aid decision: the gap between its price and your family's finances.
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign's own published aid policy · as published for 2025-26
Who qualifies: IL residents; covers tuition + fees for four years.
We'll cover tuition and fees for up to four years for all qualified in-state students. ... You're an Illinois resident (parents listed on the FAFSA are also Illinois residents) ... Your family income is $75,000 or less (effective fall 2025) ... Your family's assets are $75,000 or less (effective fall 2025)
Income thresholds assume typical assets. Policy independently verified against the college's financial-aid pages ↗.
Your odds + estimated cost across your whole college list, side by side.
The payoffTen years of typical graduate pay minus four years of cost — how many dollars ahead a typical graduate runs by year ten. Check both the full-price and with-aid versions to see which applies to you; median pay reflects who a college admits and what they study as much as the college itself., both ways
+$676K ahead at full price +$753K with aidSource: College Scorecard (average net price among Title IV first-time, full-time undergraduates who received aid) and each college's published cost of attendance. We don't show the federal net-price-by-income brackets: their categories were fixed in 2008 and never adjusted, and none of the averages is your family's own number — the full story. Payoff = (10-yr median earnings × 10) − (4 years of cost), in dollars — how far ahead a typical graduate runs by year ten; medians travel with the students a college admits and the majors they choose as much as with the college itself. Full price is the published cost of attendance, largely in-state for publics; earnings are 10 years after enrollment, all majors combined.
What students study here
Most popular majors at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Top 5 fields of study by bachelor's degrees awarded (most recent IPEDS Completions). Use this to see what University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign actually graduates — not just what it markets.
What those majors earn here
Median earnings 4 years after entry, by major — University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign's own graduates, not national averages.
| Major (CIP) | 4-yr earnings |
|---|---|
| Computer Science. | $181,981 |
| Computer Engineering. | $159,855 |
| Mathematics and Computer Science. | $155,503 |
| Computer and Information Sciences, General. | $146,946 |
| Finance and Financial Management Services. | $119,978 |
| Management Information Systems and Services. | $116,339 |
| Nuclear Engineering. | $116,047 |
| Electrical, Electronics, and Communications Engineering. | $111,783 |
| Business Administration, Management and Operations. | $107,904 |
| Systems Engineering. | $106,805 |
Sources: IPEDS Completions (C2023_a; bachelor's-level first majors, 2-digit CIP family — share is of the top 5 only) · College Scorecard program-level outcomes (PP-FOS). Full college-vs-major comparison: /college-outcomes →
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Feeder high schools
Which high schools send graduates to University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign?
Enrolled — from the schools' matriculation lists
67 high schools publish a numbered matriculation list — where their graduates actually enrolled, counted, in the school's own School Profile — and name University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign on it. Between them they printed 216 enrolled graduates. Ranked by graduates per class year enrolling at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, from each school's own published list: the number that school printed, divided by the class years its list covers. The published total and the school's own years label are shown beside every school, so a one-year list and a five-year list can sit on the same page. A list whose class years we cannot read is not divided by a guess — it is listed below with its total instead.
and 57 more
Admitted — from the schools' acceptance lists
9 high schools publish a numbered list of college acceptances — where their graduates were admitted, not where they enrolled — and name University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign on it. Between them they printed 62 admissions. Ranked by admissions per class year to University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, from each school's own published acceptances list: the number that school printed, divided by the class years its list covers. Admits are counted at each college a student was admitted to, the same way the UC Reach Score counts a student admitted to three UC campuses three times — so this is a count of admissions, not of students. The published total and the school's own years label are shown beside every school, and a list whose class years we cannot read is listed below with its total rather than divided by a guess.
All 76 feeder schools, ranked →
Counted from each school's own published document, linked on that school's page. A high school that is not here does not publish a numbered list we could read — that is all absence means, and it says nothing about its graduates. Where a school publishes both, the two lists are shown separately: an acceptances list is not a list of enrollments, and the two are never added together.
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At a glance
JSON · Using this page with an AI assistantUniversity of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is a public four-year college in IL. It admitted 44% of applicants (67,398 applied, 2023). Test policy: Test-optional.
Middle 50% of enrolled first-years who submitted that test: SAT 1270–1510, ACT 29–34. 47% of enrolled first-years submitted an SAT score, 18% an ACT — these ranges describe students who submitted, not the whole class.
Cost: about $14,355 a year on average with aid, $33,642 a year at full price for in-state students.
Median earnings ten years after entry: $81,054 a year. Payoff, meaning ten years of that pay minus four years of cost: $753,120 ahead with aid, $675,972 ahead at full price.
Highest median earnings four years after the degree, by program: Computer Science ($181,981); Computer Engineering ($159,855); Mathematics and Computer Science ($155,503).
Aid pledge published by the college for 2025-26: families earning under $75,000 pay no tuition (IL residents; covers tuition + fees for four years).
High schools that publish a numbered matriculation list and name University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign: 67, 216 enrolled students between them — ranked by graduates per class year, most often University of Chicago Laboratory Schools (12.2 per class year, 49 over 4 class years, past four years); Harker School (4.0 per class year, 12 over 3 class years, Classes of 2023, 2024 & 2025); Francis W. Parker School (3.5 per class year, 14 over 4 class years, Classes of 2022-2025). Each figure is the number that school printed divided by the class years its own list covers; the totals and years are shown. These are the schools that publish such a list, not every school that sends students; full list: https://highschoolreach.com/leaderboards/feeder-schools/university-of-illinois-urbana-champaign.
High schools that publish a numbered list of college acceptances naming University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign: 9, 62 admissions between them — ranked by admissions per class year, most often Archbishop Mitty High School (38.0 per class year, 38 over 1 class year, Class of 2025); St Andrews School Of Boca Raton Inc (5.0 per class year, 5 over 1 class year, Class of 2026); Lycée Français de San Francisco (1.7 per class year, 5 over 3 class years, Classes 2022, 2023, 2024). Admits are counted at each college, so this counts admissions, not students. These are a different set of documents from the matriculation lists above and the two are never added together; full list: https://highschoolreach.com/leaderboards/feeder-schools/university-of-illinois-urbana-champaign.
Machine-readable version of this page: https://highschoolreach.com/colleges/university-of-illinois-urbana-champaign.json