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Prairie State College Data & Information Overview

66 awards Ranking Badges
Great Price Value for Your Money
11% Student Loan Default Rate
Want the scoop on Prairie State College? We’ve put together a comprehensive report on the school that covers what majors Prairie State College offers, how the school ranks, how diverse it is, and much more.
Want to dig deeper into a particular stat? Just click on its tile and you’ll be taked to a more in-depth page on the figure. In addition, you can use the links below to quickly jump to any section on this page.

How Well Is Prairie State College Ranked?

#1,136 Best Colleges in Nation
#52 Best Colleges in IL
Dental Support Services Highest Ranked Major

2024 Rankings

In its yearly rankings, College Factual analyzes over 2,000 colleges and universities to determine which ones are the best in a variety of categories, such as overall value, quality, diversity, which schools are the best for each major, and much more.

Prairie State College was awarded 66 badges in the 2024 rankings. The highest ranked major at the school is dental support services.

Explore Best Ranked Schools for You

Explore the best ranked schools for the programs you are most interested in.

Overall Quality

College Factual ranked Prairie State College as #1,136 out of 2,217 colleges and universities in the country on its 2024 Best Colleges list.

Prairie State College is also ranked #52 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
39% 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 39%. This is lower than the national average of 47%.

Full-Time Faculty Percent  39 out of 100
0
100

Retention and Graduation Rates at Prairie State College

53% 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 53%, which is a bit lower than the national average of 68%.

Freshmen Retention Rate  53 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?

$8,981 Net Price
5% Take Out Loans
$22,996 Total Student Loans
The overall average net price of Prairie State College is $8,981. 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 +
$8,072 $8,793 $10,786 $13,328 $14,638

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 $5,749 a year. That adds up to $22,996 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at Prairie State College is 11.2%. This is higher than the national default rate of 10.1% so you should proceed with caution when taking out student loans.

Get more details about paying for Prairie State College.

How Much Money Do Prairie State College Graduates Make?

$33,318 Avg Salary of Grads
High Earnings Boost
Although some majors pay more than others, students who graduate from Prairie State College with a bachelor's degree go on to jobs where they make an average salary of $33,318 in their early years. Unfortunately, this is 22% less that the average college graduate's salary of $42,485 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

24 Majors With Completions
450 Undergraduate Degrees
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

63% Take At Least One Class Online
27% 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 2020-2021, 1,643 students took at least one online class at Prairie State College. This is a decrease from the 2,166 students who took online classes the previous year.

Year Took at Least One Online Class Took All Classes Online
2020-2021 1,643 695
2019-2020 2,166 1,253
2018-2019 929 273
2017-2018 841 230
2016-2017 832 224

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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