Admissions & acceptance rate
First-time freshman admissions: how selective the college is, and how many admitted students choose to enroll.
Graduation rate & outcomes
Completion, retention, and the equity gap between Pell and non-Pell students.
Pell equity
Non-Pell students graduate at a 23.0-point higher rate than Pell recipients.
Program outcomes
Federal Program Performance Data: how each program's graduate earnings and debt measure up under Financial Value Transparency and Gainful Employment.
Of 137 Title IV programs, 66 pass the federal Gainful Employment test and 2 fail. 69 have graduate earnings too small to publish, so they carry no pass/fail verdict.
Pass / fail distribution
- Passing66 · 48.2%
- No Data69 · 50.4%
- Failing2 · 1.5%
Severity spectrum
Tiers band programs by how far graduate earnings sit above or below the benchmark, from Critical (below −15%) through Safe (above +25%). No data means earnings were privacy-suppressed.
Earnings premium gap
Graduate earnings versus the federal benchmark, worst gaps first.
Near the line (±5%)
Programs within five points of the pass line, one cohort year from flipping.
Debt vs earnings
Median completer debt against median graduate earnings, highest burden first.
Accreditation status & history
Who accredits the institution, current standing, and any past actions.
Higher Learning Commission
Programmatic accreditations · 19
Action history · 22
- Jul 2025Loss of Accreditation or Preaccreditation: Voluntary WithdrawalAmerican Psychological Association, Commission on Accreditation · Professional Psychology (IPSY) - Predoctoral internship programs
- Apr 2025Renewal of AccreditationAmerican Physical Therapy Association, Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education · Physical Therapy (PT) - Professional programs for the physical therapist
- Oct 2024Renewal of AccreditationAmerican Psychological Association, Commission on Accreditation · School Psychology (SCPSY) - PhD Doctoral programs
- Aug 2024Renewal of AccreditationAmerican Bar Association, Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar · Law (LAW) - Professional schools
- Jun 2024Renewal of AccreditationHigher Learning Commission
Tuition & cost
What families actually pay, broken down by family income.
Net price by family income
Negative values mean aid exceeds the published cost of attendance for that income band.
Federal aid volume & trends
Pell grants and federal Direct Loan volume disbursed to students, and how they've trended.
In AY 2024–25, 6,211 students received $36.2M in Pell grants, alongside $65.8M in federal Direct Loans.
Pell recipients · 5-year trend
Loan volume by type · AY 2024–25
Loan awards count each loan type a student holds, not unique borrowers; one student may carry several (e.g. subsidized and unsubsidized), so the per-type figures are the reliable detail.
Student loan default rate
The share of student borrowers who default on federal loans within three years, against the national benchmark.
Of 4,673 borrowers who entered repayment, 102 (2.1%) defaulted within three years — below the 2.3% national rate.
Default rate vs national, by cohort
* Cohorts 2020 and later read near 0% because the federal COVID-19 payment pause (CARES Act) suspended defaults nationwide. These years reflect a national policy, not institutional performance; the 2019 cohort is the last measured under normal repayment.
Academic programs at Northern Illinois
Top program areas ranked by completions.
Top program families by completions
Enrollment trends & demographics
Fall headcount, 12-month unduplicated enrollment, and student body composition.
Gender split
Race / ethnicity composition
Athletics & Title IX gender equity
How athletic participation, aid, and spending are split between men and women.
Men vs women · spending splits
Sport-by-sport · 13
Campus safety & crime statistics
Reported on-campus crimes over the last three years, including violence and hate crimes.
3-year trend
Criminal offenses by type
By location
- On campus66
- Non-campus7
Includes 43 in residence halls (a subset of on-campus, not added to the total).
VAWA offenses
Hate crimes by bias
No hate crimes reported.
Arrests vs disciplinary referrals
Residence-hall fires
- Grant Towers North1 fireCookingDamage $100-$999
- Stevenson Towers North1 fireCookingDamage $100-$999
- Stevenson Towers South1 fireSomeone burnt a student's clothing in hamper in student's room.Damage $0-$99
- Northern View 61 fireElectricalDamage $100-$999
- Patterson Hall East1 fireElectricalDamage $100-$999
- Patterson Hall West3 firesCookingDamage $0-$99
- Patterson Hall West3 firesElectricalDamage $0-$99
- Patterson Hall West3 firesOtherDamage $0-$99
- Neptune West1 fireSmoking materialsDamage $0-$99
- Heckman Dormitory1 fireMachinery/IndustrialDamage $100-$999
Data quality: 6 reports were later determined unfounded across the reporting period and are excluded from the totals above.
Student-faculty ratio
Student-to-faculty ratio and instructional staff counts.
Northern Illinois vs Peer comparison
The peer institutions Northern Illinois selected for federal comparison reporting.
A larger shape on any axis means this institution outperforms its peers on that dimension. For acceptance rate and net price, lower raw values are inverted so "more selective" and "more affordable" appear larger.
| Carnegie | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
SubjectNorthern Illinois University | 49% | — | 15,414 | $12,909 | R2 Research |
Illinois State University | 65% | 88.2% | 21,546 | $18,996 | R2 Research |
Southern Illinois University-Carbondale | 60% | 86.9% | 11,790 | $16,177 | R2 Research |
University of Toledo | 58% | 92.0% | 14,358 | $17,460 | R2 Research |
Cleveland State University | 51% | 91.3% | 14,074 | $16,065 | R2 Research |
Central Michigan University | 59% | 89.8% | 14,488 | $16,041 | R2 Research |
| Peer group median | 59% | 89.8% | 14,423 | $16,121 |
Frequently asked questions about Northern Illinois University
Quick answers to the questions most often asked about Northern Illinois.
What is the graduation rate at Northern Illinois University?
How many students attend Northern Illinois University?
What is the average net price at Northern Illinois University?
What is the yield rate at Northern Illinois University?
Where is Northern Illinois University located?
Have a question this page can’t answer?
Ask Clema anything about Northern Illinois University and its peers — plain language in, cited answers out, in minutes instead of days.
Free for teams up to 3 · No credit card