10-yr median earnings
$38,284
Federal aid recipients only
Private For-Profit · Chicago, Illinois
Illinois Media School
Illinois Media School is a private for-profit institution in Chicago, Illinois. as a private for-profit, published Scorecard outcomes are Title-IV-recipient medians — program mix and repayment risk deserve a closer look than a single headline number.
- 73.1%
- 150%-time completion
- $27,238
- Avg net price / yr
- $38,284
- 10-yr median earnings
The verdict
Illinois Media School posts modest former-student earnings.
According to the U.S. Department of Education's College Scorecard.
- 41st pct.
- former-student earnings, US
- 73.1%
- 150%-time completion
- +20%
- earnings, 6→10 yrs
City: Large
Institution data retrieved July 2026; field-of-study data retrieved March 2026.
How to read this Illinois Media School profile
Figures above come from IPEDS institution records published through the College Scorecard (retrieved July 2026 for institution fields; March 2026 for field-of-study). Peer groups and cost cohorts follow IPEDS ownership sector, Carnegie class, and locale, not an editorial shortlist.
Average net price subtracts grant and scholarship aid from cost of attendance for full-time, first-time undergraduate Title IV recipients. It is a defined cohort average, not a personalized price; income-band fields add context but do not replace the school's current net-price calculator.
Earnings use Treasury-linked records for federally aided former students who were working and not enrolled in the measurement year (completers and noncompleters). IPEDS completion and retention use separate first-time, full-time cohorts, so those denominators are not the earnings cohort. Read cost, completion, and earnings as distinct historical measures, not a causal verdict or individual forecast.
College Value Score
D
College Value Score
47/100
Illinois Media School
A 6-metric composite of earnings, cost, and completion outcomes benchmarked against every reporting US college, not a ranking of teaching quality, campus life, or fit for any individual student. See the full methodology.
Earnings D
$38,284
10-year median former-student earnings
Net Price F
$27,238
Average annual cost after grants and aid
Completion Rate B+
73.1%
Completion within 150% of normal time
Debt B+
$9,500
Median federal debt at graduation
Loan Repayment F
40.1%
Borrowers repaying loans within 3 years
Retention N/A
N/A
First-year students returning for year two
Each axis is the percentile score shown in the breakdown at left; the shape shows this school's overall profile at a glance.
Avg net price
$27,238
After grants and scholarships
150%-time completion
73.1%
Full-time, first-time cohort
150%-time completion vs portal median (57.1%) 73.1%
Less-than-four-year-institution cohort
College ROI Quadrant - Illinois Media School vs peers
Each dot is a college plotted by 10-year median earnings (x-axis) vs average net price (y-axis), colored by completion within 150% of normal time. Bottom-right = high earnings/lower price; top-left = lower earnings/higher price.
How Illinois Media School ranks nationally
Where this school's former-student earnings fall within the full national distribution of every US college that reports to the College Scorecard, not just its peer set.
Illinois Media School: former-student earnings vs. every US college
10-year median earnings, College Scorecard
$38,284 41st percentile higher than 41% of 5,103 US colleges
Each bar is a $20K-wide band; taller bars hold more US colleges. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard · Mar–Jul 2026 retrievals
| Metric | Illinois Media School | National rank | Percentile |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10-yr median earnings | $38,284 | #3011 of 5103 | 41st |
| Average net price | $27,238 | #4179 of 5020 | 17th (lower is better) |
| 150%-time completion | 73.1% | #1170 of 4858 | 76th |
| Undergraduate enrollment | 32 | #5171 of 5462 | 5th |
National ranks count every operating US college reporting each metric to the College Scorecard, separate from the earnings histogram above.
Quick Facts
32
Undergraduate enrollment
-
Acceptance rate
-
SAT average
73.1%
150%-time completion
$38,284
10-yr median earnings
-
First-year retention
How Illinois Media School ranks in Illinois
State rank among 189 reporting Illinois colleges with College Scorecard data, a separate lens from the national distribution above.
| Metric | Illinois Media School | State rank | Percentile |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10-yr median earnings | $38,284 | #111 of 189 | 41st |
| Average net price | $27,238 | #166 of 179 | 7th (lower is better) |
| 150%-time completion | 73.1% | #34 of 171 | 80th |
| Undergraduate enrollment | 32 | #189 of 201 | 6th |
Highest former-student earnings in Illinois
| # | School | 10-yr earnings | Net price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chamberlain University-Illinois | $92,405 | $31,837 |
| 2 | University of Chicago | $91,885 | $14,860 |
| 3 | Northwestern University | $89,363 | $29,167 |
| 4 | St. John's College | $86,331 | - |
| 5 | Lakeview College of Nursing | $84,522 | - |
| 6 | Illinois Institute of Technology | $82,592 | $18,425 |
| 7 | University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign | $81,054 | $14,355 |
| 8 | Saint Anthony College of Nursing | $77,709 | - |
| 9 | Rush University | $75,194 | - |
| 10 | Saint Francis Medical Center College of Nursing | $72,850 | - |
| 11 | Blessing Rieman College of Nursing and Health Sciences | $72,430 | - |
| 12 | Loyola University Chicago | $71,530 | $36,079 |
| 111 | Illinois Media SchoolThis school | $38,284 | $27,238 |
Costs & Financial Aid
Net price by family income at Illinois Media School
Average annual net price after grants; Title IV recipient cohort by income bracket
- $0 – $30k
$0 – $30k
$26,604 net price / yr
- $30k – $48k
$30k – $48k
$28,069 net price / yr
- $48k – $75k
$48k – $75k
$29,593 net price / yr
What this shows Need-based aid pulls net price down at lower brackets at Illinois Media School - compare the bar for your income band, not the overall average alone.
Tuition & Net Price
| Average Net Price | $27,238 |
55.3%
Pell Grant Rate
57.5%
Federal Loan Rate
$9,500
Median Debt
$101/mo
Monthly Payment
What students pay at Illinois Media School rose +98.6% since 2013
Average net price for the reported Title IV-recipient cohort went from $14,573 in 2013 to $28,935 in 2023, a rise of $14,362 in nominal dollars. Across the 4,315 colleges measured over the same 2013–2023 span, the median change was +14.6%.
11 reported years. Nominal dollars, not adjusted for inflation.
2013 · $14,5732023 · $28,935
Over the same years, enrollment went -78.8% (170 → 36 students).
Source: U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard, per-year fields (2013–2023). Net price is the average cost after grant and scholarship aid for federally-aided undergraduates.
Student Demographics
Race & ethnicity
Student body at a glance
34.4%
Female
39.3%
First Generation
Outcomes
$31,958
Median Earnings (6yr)
59.4%
Earning Over $25K
40.1%
Loan Repayment, Completers (3yr)
Outcomes & debt snapshot
| Measure | Cohort / horizon | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Completion within 150% of normal time | First-time, full-time | 73.1% |
| Median earnings | 6 years after entry | $31,958 |
| Median earnings | 10 years after entry | $38,284 |
| Share earning over $25,000 | Working, not enrolled | 59.4% |
| Loan repayment rate | Completers, 3 years after leaving | 40.1% |
| Median federal student debt | At completion | $9,500 |
| Estimated monthly payment | Standard 10-year plan | $101/mo |
Programs & Earnings
| Program | Credential | Completers | Median Earnings | Median Debt |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Public Relations, Advertising, and Applied Communication | Certificate | 14 | $44,556 | $10,666 |
| Radio, Television, and Digital Communication | Certificate | 83 | $35,062 | $9,500 |
| Film/Video and Photographic Arts | Certificate | - | $31,567 | $15,833 |
Explore Data-Matched Colleges
Scorecard-derived matches among reporting colleges — not school marketing or paid placement lists.
Similar Enrollment and Sector
Other Private For-Profit institutions closest in reported enrollment, preferring the same Carnegie classification.
Similar Reported Net Price
Other Private For-Profit institutions with the nearest reported average net price.
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$27,230 net price · $8 apart
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$27,257 net price · $19 apart
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$27,260 net price · $22 apart
Similar 2013–2023 Net-Price Trend
Same-sector institutions with the same direction and nearest fitted annual change; only series with R² of at least 0.40 qualify.
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+$1,675/year · $2/year apart
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+$1,674/year · $4/year apart
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Frequently Asked Questions
What are the admissions statistics for Illinois Media School? ▼
Illinois Media School is a private for-profit institution in Chicago, Illinois. Undergraduate enrollment is 32 students.
How much do Illinois Media School former students earn? ▼
Federally aided former students at Illinois Media School who were working and not enrolled had median earnings of $38,284 ten years after entry; the cohort is not limited to graduates. Six years after entry, the corresponding median is $31,958.
How much does Illinois Media School cost? ▼
The average net price at Illinois Media School is $27,238.. Median student debt at graduation is $9,500.
What is the graduation rate at Illinois Media School? ▼
Illinois Media School has a 73.1% completion rate within 150% of normal program time at a less-than-four-year institution.
Is Illinois Media School worth the student debt? ▼
The median student debt at Illinois Media School is $9,500, while former students earn a median of $38,284 ten years after enrollment. That debt represents about 25% of those annual earnings. Among borrowers who completed their program, 40.1% are repaying their loans within 3 years. Estimated monthly loan payment is $101.
Sources & methodology
Private for-profit profiles foreground Scorecard debt, repayment, and program-level earnings where reported. Marketing claims from the school are not inputs to this page.
Every figure is the Mar–Jul 2026 federal retrieval. For-profit program mixes can shift year to year — treat institution medians as a starting map, then check Field-of-Study rows below. Read the full methodology for how the data is sourced, computed, and verified.
- College Scorecard, U.S. Department of Education - former-student earnings, cost & completion (collegescorecard.ed.gov).
- IPEDS, National Center for Education Statistics - enrollment, admissions, Carnegie class & demographics (nces.ed.gov/ipeds).
- U.S. Treasury / IRS earnings linkage - median earnings 6 & 10 years after enrollment for federal-aid recipients (irs.gov).
- College Scorecard, Field of Study - program-level (credential) earnings & debt (collegescorecard.ed.gov).
- Federal Student Aid (Title IV / NSLDS) - U.S. Department of Education - net price, student debt & aid-recipient repayment outcomes (studentaid.gov).
Where to go next from Illinois Media School
- Compare Illinois Media School against schools with similar outcomes at a lower average net price.Find similar schools that cost less
- Browse every reporting college in Illinois side by side.Browse Illinois
- See how fields of study differ on former-student earnings and debt.Explore programs
For-profit Scorecard figures are Title-IV cohort history — verify current program costs, accreditation, and repayment outcomes with the school and official aid tools.
Every figure on PlainCollege is rendered directly from the U.S. Department of Education's College Scorecard data, no number is typed in by an editor. Private for-profit profiles compile Scorecard debt/earnings and IPEDS operating fields from federal files — no editor-typed figures. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error on this page. Review the public data changelog. Data current as of Mar–Jul 2026 retrievals.