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Southern Illinois University-Carbondale Complete Information Guide

296 awards Ranking Badges
Fair Price Value for Your Money
87% Acceptance Rate

Find out more about how Southern Illinois University-Carbondale ranks, how diverse it is, what majors it offers, and other essential facts below.

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* Rankings

How Does Southern Illinois University-Carbondale Stack Up?

#893 Best Colleges in Nation
#47 Best Colleges in IL
Southern Illinois University-Carbondale ranking badge

2026 Rankings

College Factual analyzes over 2,000 colleges and universities in its annual rankings and ranks them in a variety of ways, including most diverse, best overall quality, best for non-traditional students, and much more.

Southern Illinois University-Carbondale was awarded 296 badges in the 2026 rankings.

Overall Ranking

College Factual ranked SIUC as #893 out of 3,449 colleges and universities in the country on its 2026 Best Colleges list.

SIUC is also ranked #47 on the Best Colleges in Illinois list.

See all of the rankings for Southern Illinois University-Carbondale.

Is It Hard to Get Into Southern Illinois University-Carbondale?

87% Acceptance Rate
88% Of Accepted Are Women
37% Submit SAT Scores

Admission Selectivity

With an acceptance rate of 87%, Southern Illinois University-Carbondale is easier to get into than many other schools. But that doesn’t mean you can slack off on your application. Make sure to treat this school like any other when submitting requested materials and documents.

Average Test Scores

About 37% of students accepted to SIUC submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 470 and 590. Math scores were between 430 and 570.

SAT Reading and Writing Scores for Southern Illinois University-Carbondale  ( 470 to 590 )
200
800
SAT Math Scores for Southern Illinois University-Carbondale  ( 430 to 570 )
200
800

SIUC received ACT scores from 8% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT Composite scores ranged between 18 and 25.

ACT Composite Scores for Southern Illinois University-Carbondale  ( 18 to 25 )
1
36

Learn more about Southern Illinois University-Carbondale admissions.

Faculty at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale

11 to 1 Student to Faculty
78% Full Time Teachers

Student to Faculty Ratio

At SIUC, the student to faculty ratio is an excellent 11 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 opportunities to work closely with their professors and classmates.

Full-Time Instructors

Another measure that is often used to estimate how much access students will have to their professors is how many faculty members are full-time. The idea here is that part-time faculty tend to spend less time on campus, so they may not be as available to students as full-timers.

The full-time faculty percentage at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale is 78%. This is higher than the national average of 47%.

Full-Time Faculty Percent  78 out of 100
0
100

Student Success Metrics for Southern Illinois University-Carbondale

69% Freshmen Retention
56% On-Time Graduation Rate

Freshman Success

The freshmen retention rate tells us what percentage of first-year, full-time students choose to continue on to their sophomore year at a particular school. The rate at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale is 69%, which is about average when compared to the national rate of 68%.

Freshmen Retention Rate  69 out of 100
0
100

Graduation Rate

Students are considered to have graduated on time if they finish their studies within four years. At SIUC the on-time graduation rate of first-time, full-time students is 56%. That is great when compared to the national average of 33.3%.

On-Time Graduation Rate  56 out of 100
0
100

Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale.

Diversity Profile of Southern Illinois University-Carbondale

8,116 Undergraduate Students
33.6% Racial-Ethnic Minorities*
51.0% Percent Women

During the most recent academic year, there were 8,116 undergraduates at SIUC.

Get more detailed information on the diversity at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale.

Cost of Attending Southern Illinois University-Carbondale

$16,772 Net Price
45% Take Out Loans
$26,532 Total Student Loans

The average net price of SIUC is $16,772. 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 SIUC

$0-30 K $30K-48K $48-75 $75-110K $110K +
$12,928 $12,082 $13,206 $22,819 $23,582

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 price for a school. For more information on the sticker price of SIUC, 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 SIUC, approximately 45% of students took out student loans averaging $6,633 a year. That adds up to $26,532 over four years for those students. The student loan default rate is 7.6%. Although this is lower than the national default rate of 10.1%, you’ll still want to keep this in mind when taking out student loans. Get more details about paying for Southern Illinois University-Carbondale.

What Do Southern Illinois U-Carbondale Alumni Earn?

$53,390 Avg Salary of Grads
High Earnings Boost

Yearly salaries vary depending on what you major in, but on average, bachelor’s degree recipients from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale make around $53,390 per year during the early years of their employment. This is right on par with the average college graduate’s salary of $49,219 per year. Also, graduates in your major field may make more.

See which majors at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale make the most money.

Location of Southern Illinois University-Carbondale

Illinois State
8,116 Undergraduate Students
Town Campus Setting

Southern Illinois University-Carbondale is an public institution found in Carbondale, Illinois. Carbondale is a great place for students who enjoy small town life. Get more details about the location of Southern Illinois University-Carbondale.

Location of Southern Illinois University-Carbondale

Contact details for Southern Illinois University-Carbondale are listed below.

Contact Details
Address: Lincoln Drive, Carbondale, IL 62901-4512
Phone: 6184532121
Website: www.siu.edu
Facebook: www.facebook.com/SouthernIllinoisUniversityCarbondale
Twitter: twitter.com/siuc

Southern Illinois University-Carbondale Majors

31 Majors With Completions
5,832 Undergraduate Degrees

In the most recent reporting year, students from 31 majors graduated from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale. The following table lists the most popular undergraduate majors along with the average salary graduates from those majors make.

Most Popular Majors Completions Average Salary of Graduates
Multi-Disciplinary Studies 2,916 NA
Air Transportation 211 $44,837
Allied Health Professions 209 $83,507
Teacher Education Subject Specific 110 $48,318
General Psychology 104 $33,712
Health/Medical Admin Services 100 $39,696
Law 85 $43,191
Social Work 84 $33,201
Medicine 79 $55,319
Industrial Production Technology 73 $64,959

Learn more about the majors offered at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale along with which ones have the highest average starting salaries.

Online Study Options at SIUC

56% Take At Least One Class Online
18% Take All Classes Online

Online learning options are becoming more and more popular at American colleges and universities. Online classes are great for students who have busy schedules or for those who just want to study on their own time.

4,514 students took at least one online class at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale.

Learn more about online learning at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale.

Comparable CollegesCurious how schools stack up against SIUC? Compare them side by side using College Combat, our free tool for head-to-head college comparisons.

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

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