Illinois has 86 private and 12 public 4-year colleges that enroll 51,936 first-year students yearly. The average tuition of public colleges is $28,337 for in-state students and $34,413 for out-of-state and international students.

Private colleges in Illinois charge around $32,899 per year in tuition regardless of residency.

In the 2021-2022 academic year, Illinois provided $96.2 million in financial aid to 18,286 students who enrolled in 4-year colleges for the first time as undergraduates. In addition, the colleges themselves awarded $619.7 million in grants and scholarships to 40,021 students.

Illinois receives 2.1% of the total pell grant the federal government allocates. In the 2021-2022 academic year, 18,022 4-year college first-year undergraduates were awarded a total amount of $89.9 million in pell grant ($4,936 per student on average), and 22,252 students received a total amount of $118.3 million in the form of student loans from the federal government ($6,017 per student on average).