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Highest first-year retention in Illinois
104 colleges in Illinois with this figure reported (500+ students).
1University of Chicago · IL · Private (nonprofit)99%2Northwestern University · IL · Private (nonprofit)97%3University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign · IL · Public94%4Wheaton College · IL · Private (nonprofit)94%5Moody Bible Institute · IL · Private (nonprofit)90%6DePaul University · IL · Private (nonprofit)87%7Illinois Institute of Technology · IL · Private (nonprofit)87%8Lake Forest College · IL · Private (nonprofit)86%9Illinois Wesleyan University · IL · Private (nonprofit)85%10Bradley University · IL · Private (nonprofit)84%11Lewis University · IL · Private (nonprofit)84%12Loyola University Chicago · IL · Private (nonprofit)84%13Augustana College · IL · Private (nonprofit)83%14North Central College · IL · Private (nonprofit)82%15School of the Art Institute of Chicago · IL · Private (nonprofit)82%16Illinois State University · IL · Public81%17University of Illinois Springfield · IL · Public81%18Knox College · IL · Private (nonprofit)80%19Dominican University · IL · Private (nonprofit)79%20Midwestern Career College · IL · Private (for-profit)79%21Trinity Christian College · IL · Private (nonprofit)79%22Aurora University · IL · Private (nonprofit)78%23University of Illinois Chicago · IL · Public78%24Chamberlain University-Illinois · IL · Private (for-profit)77%25Elgin Community College · IL · Public77%26Lincoln College of Technology-Melrose Park · IL · Private (for-profit)77%27Universal Technical Institute of Illinois Inc · IL · Private (for-profit)77%28William Rainey Harper College · IL · Public77%29Elmhurst University · IL · Private (nonprofit)76%30Moraine Valley Community College · IL · Public76%31Judson University · IL · Private (nonprofit)74%32Midwest Technical Institute-Illinois · IL · Private (for-profit)74%33Millikin University · IL · Private (nonprofit)74%34Saint Xavier University · IL · Private (nonprofit)74%35University of St Francis · IL · Private (nonprofit)73%36College of Lake County · IL · Public72%37Illinois Central College · IL · Public72%38Illinois Eastern Community Colleges · IL · Public72%39Oakton College · IL · Public72%40Sauk Valley Community College · IL · Public72%
Source: U.S. Department of Education, IPEDS (latest survey year). Sorted only by highest first-year retention — this is not an overall quality ranking. Open-admission colleges do not report an admit rate and are not listed here.