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Prairie State College Data & Information Overview

Great Price Value for Your Money
1% Student Loan Default Rate
If you want to know more about Prairie State College, such as what majors does it offer, how diverse it is, how well it ranks, and more, this is your one-stop resource. If you’re interested in learning more about a particular stat, just click on its tile to go to a new page that covers the topic more in-depth. Also, you can jump to any section of this page by clicking one of the links below.

How Well Is Prairie State College Ranked?

#1,566 Best Colleges in Nation
#66 Best Colleges in IL
Dental Support Services Highest Ranked Major

2025 Rankings

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Overall Quality

Prairie State College is ranked #1,566 out of 2,152 schools in the nation for overall quality on College Factual's 2025 Best Colleges list.

Prairie State College is also ranked #66 out of 85 schools in Illinois.

See all of the rankings for Prairie State College.

Is It Hard to Get Into Prairie State College?

Open Admissions Policy

Acceptance Rate

Returning adults and other non-traditional students may appreciate the fact that Prairie State College has an open admissions policy. This means that you'll only have to submit basic materials, which may include proof that you completed high school or an equivalent program.

Learn more about Prairie State College admissions.

Prairie State College Faculty

10 to 1 Student to Faculty
35% Full Time Teachers

Student to Faculty Ratio

At Prairie State College, the student to faculty ratio is an excellent 10 to 1. That's much better than the national average of 15 to 1. This indicates that many classes will probably be small, and students will have ample opportunites to work closely with their professors and classmates.

Percent of Full-Time Faculty

When estimating how much access students will have to their teachers, some people like to look at what percentage of faculty members are full time. This is because part-time teachers may not have as much time to spend on campus as their full-time counterparts.

The full-time faculty percentage at Prairie State College is 35%. This is lower than the national average of 47%.

Full-Time Faculty Percent  35 out of 100
0
100

Retention and Graduation Rates at Prairie State College

52% Freshmen Retention

Freshmen Retention Rate

The freshmen retention rate is a sign of how many full-time students like a college or university well enough to come back for their sophomore year. At Prairie State College this rate is 52%, which is a bit lower than the national average of 68%.

Freshmen Retention Rate  52 out of 100
0
100

Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at Prairie State College.

Prairie State College Undergraduate Student Diversity

872 Full-Time Undergraduates
80.0% Racial-Ethnic Minorities*
61.6% Percent Women

During the 2017-2018 academic year, there were 2,716 undergraduates at Prairie State College with 872 being full-time and 1,844 being part-time.

How Much Does Prairie State College Cost?

$3,301 Net Price
5% Take Out Loans
$21,552 Total Student Loans
The overall average net price of Prairie State College is $3,301. The affordability of the school largely depends on your financial need since net price varies by income group. See the table below for the net price for different income groups.

Net Price by Income Group for Prairie State College

$0-30 K$30K-48K$48-75$75-110K$110K +
$2,625$2,252$6,677$3,767$11,770

The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid.Note that the net price is typically less than the published for a school. For more information on the sticker price of Prairie State College, see our tuition and fees and room and board pages.

Student Loan Debt

While almost two-thirds of students nationwide take out loans to pay for college, the percentage may be quite different for the school you plan on attending. At Prairie State College, approximately 5% of students took out student loans averaging $5,388 a year. That adds up to $21,552 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at Prairie State College is 1.0%. This is significantly lower than the national default rate of 10.1%, which is a good sign that you'll be able to pay back your student loans.

Get more details about paying for Prairie State College.

How Much Money Do Prairie State College Graduates Make?

$36,696 Avg Salary of Grads
High Earnings Boost
The pay for some majors is higher than others, but on average, students who graduate with a bachelor's degree from Prairie State College make about $36,696 a year during their first few years of employment after graduation. Unfortunately, this is 25% less that the average college graduate's salary of $49,219 per year. However, graduates in your major field may make more.

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See which majors at Prairie State College make the most money.

Location of Prairie State College

Illinois State
872 Full-Time Undergraduates
Suburb Campus Setting
Prairie State College is a public institution located in Chicago Heights, Illinois. Chicago Heights is a good match for students who enjoy the safety and convenience of the suburbs.

Get more details about the location of Prairie State College.

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Contact details for Prairie State College are given below.

Contact Details
Address:202 South Halsted Street, Chicago Heights, IL 60411-8226
Phone:708-709-3500
Website:prairiestate.edu/

Prairie State College Majors

38 Majors With Completions
1,258 Undergraduate Degrees
1,258 Graduate Degrees
During the most recent year for which we have data, students from 38 majors graduated from Prairie State College. Of these students, 1,258 received undergraduate degrees and 1,258 graduated with a master's or doctor's degree. The following table lists the most popular undergraduate majors along with the average salary graduates from those majors make.

Most Popular MajorsBachelor’s DegreesAverage Salary of Graduates
Liberal Arts General Studies191NA
Practical Nursing & Nursing Assistants88NA
Allied Health Professions56NA
Dental Support Services41NA
Fire Protection38NA
Allied Health & Medical Assisting Services35NA
Information Technology24NA
Biological & Physical Science15NA
Woodworking15NA
Computer Software & Applications13NA

Learn more about the majors offered at Prairie State College along with which ones have the highest average starting salaries.

Online Learning at Prairie State College

50% Take At Least One Class Online
19% Take All Classes Online

Online courses area a great option for busy, working students as well as for those who have scheduling conflicts and want to study on their own time. As time goes by, expect to see more and more online learning options become available.

In 2022-2023, 1,351 students took at least one online class at Prairie State College. This is a decrease from the 1,643 students who took online classes the previous year.

YearTook at Least One Online ClassTook All Classes Online
2022-20231,351517
2021-20221,643695
2020-20212,1661,253
2018-2019841230

Learn more about online learning at Prairie State College.

Notes and References

Footnotes

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

References

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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