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Altogether Extraordinary

What is altogether extraordinary? It’s leading the charge to create a brighter future for everyone. It’s driving innovation that breaks down barriers and lifts up communities. It’s transforming minds—and the world around us.

Here's how:

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THREE UNIVERSITIES.
ONE SYSTEM.
ALTOGETHER EXTRAORDINARY.

Fueled by countless supporters and driven by the most talented individuals, we explore further, dive deeper, and reach higher. When you radically rethink potential, the impossible is made possible every day—in a thriving, micro-urban community; in the heart of a big city; and in the state capital. Combined, our three universities and healthcare enterprise bring resources, capabilities, and drive that are greater than the sum of their parts—it is altogether extraordinary.

97,772 Students Strong

32% of undergraduates identify as underrepresented

ACCESS FOR UNDERREPRESENTED STUDENTS AT AN ALL-TIME HIGH

Our efforts to provide access to more students across the state are producing results, including increasing the number of underrepresented students. In the fall of 2024, underrepresented students made up 32 percent of all undergraduate students in the U of I System, an all-time high.

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EXTRAORDINARY REACH

From Rockford to Chicago to the Quad Cities, Peoria and the southern tip of Illinois, the University of Illinois System touches virtually every field, forest and city block in our state. In fact, more than half of all students enrolled in a public university in Illinois are enrolled at one of our three universities. We have students from 101 of 102 Illinois counties, and 79 percent of our undergraduates are in-state students.

53% all of Illinois public university attendees go to University of Illinois System schools

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We have students from 101 of 102 Illinois counties

FINANCIAL AID

Our commitment to access provides the opportunity to obtain a life-changing education to more students than ever. To make that possible, nearly half the aid our undergraduate students received – $283 million in Fiscal Year 2023 – comes from our universities. Over the past 10 years, those expenditures increased by nearly 50%. Almost sixty percent of our undergraduates pay less than full tuition and fees, and 30% pay nothing at all.

59%

Almost sixty percent of our undergraduates pay less than full tuition and fees.

40%

Of undergraduate in-state students have their tuition and fees fully covered after aid and waivers.

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Graphic comparing 2013 and 2022 financial aid amounts U of I System aid increased nearly 50% over 10 years

OUR ALUMNI

871,254

457,726

Pick a spot on the globe, and you'll almost certainly find our alumni. We are over 870,000 strong, including more than 457,000 in Illinois, and you’ll find us in all 50 states and 168 countries. Alumni of the University of Illinois System have won two dozen Nobel prizes, are finding better ways to feed a growing population, programming supercomputers, breaking new ground in music and the arts, and helping lead societies.

Curtis Granderson profile picture

Curtis Granderson University of Illinois
Chicago

Mike Hopkins profile picture

Mike Hopkins University of Illinois
Urbana-Champaign

Rep. Cheri Bustos

Former Rep. Cheri Bustos University of Illinois
Springfield

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R&D EXPENDITURES

Our universities are laboratories for groundbreaking research and are among the most innovative in the world. In 2023, the U of I System was ranked 34th among all worldwide universities for total patents. That research is driven by the investment of more than $1 billion in federal, state and private funding a year. Year in and year out, the federal investment in our research surpasses almost every research institution in the country.

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$1 Billion+ Total R&D Portfolio; Top 35 worldwide in number of patents granted to universities

$19 billion

Pumped into the Illinois economy per year

AN ECONOMIC ENGINE

Through its education, research and service, the University of Illinois System is a dynamic driver of the economies of the state of Illinois and the Midwest. Through our universities, hospitals and clinics, research and the companies we help launch, we pump $19 billion a year into the state's economy and support 164,200 jobs. And with more than 27,000 new graduates a year, our universities provide a pipeline of well-educated talent for the state's employers.

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SYSTEM LEADERSHIP & GOVERNANCE

Overseeing the University of Illinois System are the board of trustees and the U of I president. Along with the chancellor/vice president of each of the universities, the board and president keep the system and its universities competitive, growing, and fully committed to the core missions of education, research, public service, and economic development.