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Colleges and Universities

Illinois citizens have a broad array of educational opportunities available through the state's nationally respected system of 9 public universities on 12 campuses, 48 community colleges, 97 independent not-for-profit colleges and universities, 35 independent for-profit institutions and 22 out-of-state institutions. Enrollments in these institutions have an overall increase – 4.9% -- in fall 2008 to 854,660 compared with the previous autumn, continuing a pattern of stable enrollments in Illinois colleges and universities since the mid-1990s.

Enrollments at public universities declined by -0.4% in fall 2008 to 201,620, according to preliminary headcounts. Community college enrollments increased 1.9% to 353,742. The number of students at private institutions increased 3.6% in the nonprofit sector, to 227,377, and 58.4% among proprietary institutions*, to 71,921. In addition, there were 7,844 Illinois students enrolled in out-of-state institutions with operations in Illinois.

Calculation of a 12-month unduplicated headcount (as opposed to fall enrollment reports) shows more than a million students enrolled in credit coursework at Illinois colleges and universities during the 2007 academic year. A breakdown of 12-month headcounts reveals that enrollments at:

  • Public universities increased 0.4% to 234,744
  • Community colleges increased 0.3% to 684,964
  • Private nonprofit and for-profit institutions rose 16.0% to 368,840

Note: 12-month unduplicated headcounts from out-of-state institutions are not collected.

*American InterContinental University Online, which is exclusively an online institution and was previously considered an out-of-state institution, is included as an Illinois institution. This change in status is responsible for an increase of 21,733 headcount enrollments in the proprietary institutions.

Copyright 2009

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