2025 College Rankings

The University of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign is one of the largest schools by enrollment in the U.S. and a major center of national research. Yet like many top universities, it suffers from trends that risk undermining its academic credibility.

The administration has embraced initiatives extraneous to the school’s educational mission, including environmental pledges and a formal land acknowledgment. Illinois has adopted Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programming, though its DEI bureaucracy is relatively small—about one employee per 1,000 undergraduates. More than a third of faculty job postings require a DEI statement.

The university’s support for free speech is questionable. Just 33 percent of students told the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) that it is “extremely” or “very” clear that the administration would protect speech rights. FIRE gives Illinois a “yellow” rating, meaning that its policies could easily be used to restrict expression.

The faculty at Illinois is ideologically unbalanced, though less so than at many other schools. Students, when asked to place their professors on a scale where 1 is “very liberal” and 7 is “very conservative,” rated them at an average of 2.98. In the 2023–24 election cycle, 98 percent of faculty campaign donations went to liberal or Democratic causes. Few professors are affiliated with organizations that promote free inquiry on campus.

Student viewpoints are also skewed: for every conservative student, there are about three liberals. Self-censorship is an issue, though not as severe as elsewhere—43 percent of students report to FIRE that they self-censor at least once a month. On the whole, students tend to oppose efforts to silence others: 62 percent say that it is “rarely” or “never” acceptable to shout down a speaker. However, there have been several unsuccessful attempts at de-platforming speakers over the last five years.

The curriculum at Illinois is weak. The American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) gives the school a D in its What Will They Learn? ratings, which assign letter grades based on how many of seven core subjects are required in the core curriculum or general education program. While the university mandates DEI-focused courses for graduation, it neglects more academically essential subjects like history and government. One bright spot is the Academy on Capitalism and Limited Government Foundation, which ACTA highlights for its support of lectures, debates, and programs promoting the study of free markets and individual liberty.

Illinois serves its graduates reasonably well. On average, alumni take just 1.5 years to pay back the cost of their education—shorter than our overall average of 2.3 years. However, the school’s six-year graduation rate underperforms expectations, based on SAT scores and Pell Grant data: it stands at 85 percent, about three points below where it should be.