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2023 Top Illinois Men's D3 Football Schools

19 Colleges
$38,909 Avg Tuition & Fees*
56% Avg 4-Year Grad Rate*

It's not easy to decide which college to attend when there are so many options available for student athletes. College Factual has developed its Best Colleges for Division III Men's Football in Illinois ranking as one item you can use to help make this decision.

Our analysis looked at 19 schools in Illinois to determine which ones were the best for D3 Men's Football athletes in Illinois. Instead of depending on subjective information, we focus on objective factors to determine this ranking. These factors include such things as the athletic competitiveness of the school and the school's overall quality. This means that a school must provide students with a great education in addition to having a good sports team if it wants to rank well.

Get more details on our ranking methodology.

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Top Colleges in Illinois for D3 Men's Football athletes in Illinois

See which schools came out on top of our ranking:

1
UChicago crest
University of Chicago
Chicago, Illinois

Our analysis found University of Chicago to be the best school for D3 Men’s Football athletes in Illinois in this year’s ranking. This fairly large private not-for-profit school is located in Chicago, Illinois, and it awarded 2,425 bachelor’s degrees in . Speaking financially, the D3 Men’s Football team at UChicago took home $676,204 in revenue. Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 99%. UChicago did well in our overall quality rankings, too. It placed #2 on our overall quality list. Read full sports report on University of Chicago

2
Wheaton College Illinois crest
Wheaton College Illinois
Wheaton, Illinois

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Wheaton College Illinois. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Best Colleges for D3 Men’s Football athletes in Illinois list. Wheaton College Illinois is a small private not-for-profit school situated in Wheaton, Illinois. It awarded 648 bachelor’s degrees in . Speaking financially, the D3 Men’s Football team at Wheaton College Illinois took home $724,343 in revenue. Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 89%. Wheaton College Illinois did well in our overall quality rankings, too. It placed #4 on our overall quality list. Read full sports report on Wheaton College Illinois

3
Illinois Wesleyan crest
Illinois Wesleyan University
Bloomington, Illinois

You’ll join some of the best athletes around if you attend Illinois Wesleyan University. The school came in at #3 in this year’s ranking. Illinois Wesleyan University is a small private not-for-profit school located in Bloomington, Illinois that handed out 404 bachelor’s degrees in . On the financial side of things, the D3 Men’s Football team at Illinois Wesleyan made $496,188 in revenue. As a testament to the quality of education it offers, Illinois Wesleyan also is in the top 10% of our overall quality ranking. Read More…

4
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Augustana College
Rock Island, Illinois

A rank of #4 on our list means Augustana College is a great place for D3 Men’s Football athletes in Illinois working on their bachelor’s degree. Augustana is a private not-for-profit institution located in Rock Island, Illinois. The school has a small population, and it awarded 755 bachelor’s degrees in . Speaking financially, the D3 Men’s Football team at Augustana took home $606,591 in revenue. Augustana excels when it comes to quality. It’s ranked in the top 20% of all schools on our overall quality list. Read More…

5
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Knox College
Galesburg, Illinois

You’ll join some of the best athletes around if you attend Knox College. The school came in at #5 in this year’s ranking. Knox is located in Galesburg, Illinois and, has a small student population. In , this school awarded 332 bachelor’s degrees to qualified undergraduates. The D3 Men’s Football team at Knox brought home $435,300 in revenue in a single year. On top of its placing in this ranking, Knox also did well on our overall quality list. It’s in the top 20% of all schools reviewed in this analysis. Read More…

6
Lake Forest crest
Lake Forest College
Lake Forest, Illinois

Lake Forest College came in at #6 in this year’s edition of the Best Colleges for Division III Men’s Football in Illinois ranking. Lake Forest College is a small private not-for-profit school located in Lake Forest, Illinois that handed out 466 bachelor’s degrees in . The D3 Men’s Football team at Lake Forest brought home $457,183 in revenue in a single year. With a freshman retention rate of 87%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students. Read full sports report on Lake Forest College

7
North Central crest
North Central College
Naperville, Illinois

North Central College did quite well in the 2023 Best Colleges for Division III Men’s Football in Illinois ranking, coming in at #7. North Central is located in Naperville, Illinois and, has a small student population. In , this school awarded 653 bachelor’s degrees to qualified undergraduates. North Central brought in $964,301 while tallying up $840,412 in expenses for its D3 Men’s Football team. Happily, this means that the team turned a profit of $123,889. Full North Central College Sports Report

8
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Elmhurst University
Elmhurst, Illinois

Elmhurst University came in at #8 in this year’s edition of the Best Colleges for Division III Men’s Football in Illinois ranking. This small private not-for-profit school is located in Elmhurst, Illinois, and it awarded 831 bachelor’s degrees in . Speaking financially, the D3 Men’s Football team at Elmhurst took home $572,879 in revenue. Read More…

9
Illinois College crest
Illinois College
Jacksonville, Illinois

Illinois College ranked #9 on this year’s Best Colleges for Division III Men’s Football in Illinois list. Illinois College is located in Jacksonville, Illinois and, has a small student population. In , this school awarded 323 bachelor’s degrees to qualified undergraduates. On the financial side of things, the D3 Men’s Football team at Illinois College made $438,125 in revenue. Read full sports report on Illinois College

10
Monmouth crest
Monmouth College
Monmouth, Illinois

Monmouth College did quite well in the 2023 Best Colleges for Division III Men’s Football in Illinois ranking, coming in at #10. Monmouth is a private not-for-profit institution located in Monmouth, Illinois. The school has a small population, and it awarded 189 bachelor’s degrees in . The D3 Men’s Football team at Monmouth brought home $336,660 in revenue in a single year. With a student-to-faculty ratio of 9 to 1, it’s easy to see that the school is committed to helping their undergraduates succeed. Read More…

11
Millikin crest
Millikin University
Decatur, Illinois

Millikin University did quite well in the 2023 Best Colleges for Division III Men’s Football in Illinois ranking, coming in at #11. Millikin is located in Decatur, Illinois and, has a small student population. In , this school awarded 414 bachelor’s degrees to qualified undergraduates. The D3 Men’s Football team at Millikin made $677,474 in revenue, while incurring $671,915 in expenses. That boils down to a yearly profit of $5,559 for the sports team. Since the school has a student-to-faculty ratio of 9 to 1, those pursuing a bachelor’s degree will have more opportunities to interact with their professors. Read full sports report on Millikin University

12
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North Park University
Chicago, Illinois

North Park University ranked #12 on this year’s Best Colleges for Division III Men’s Football in Illinois list. North Park is a small private not-for-profit school situated in Chicago, Illinois. It awarded 369 bachelor’s degrees in . Speaking financially, the D3 Men’s Football team at North Park took home $548,083 in revenue. Read More…

13
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Benedictine University
Lisle, Illinois

Benedictine University did quite well in the 2023 Best Colleges for Division III Men’s Football in Illinois ranking, coming in at #13. Located in Lisle, Illinois, the small private not-for-profit school handed out 686 bachelor’s degrees in . The D3 Men’s Football team at Benedictine U made $468,535 in revenue, while incurring $444,961 in expenses. That boils down to a yearly profit of $23,574 for the sports team. Read full sports report on Benedictine University

14
Aurora crest
Aurora University
Aurora, Illinois

Aurora University landed the #14 spot on the 2023 Best Colleges for Division III Men’s Football in Illinois ranking. Aurora is a medium-sized private not-for-profit school situated in Aurora, Illinois. It awarded 1,249 bachelor’s degrees in . The D3 Men’s Football team at Aurora brought home $595,317 in revenue in a single year. Full Aurora University Sports Report

15
Greenville crest
Greenville University
Greenville, Illinois

With a ranking of #15, Greenville University did quite well on the 2023 Best Colleges for Division III Men’s Football in Illinois ranking. Located in Greenville, Illinois, the small private not-for-profit school handed out 205 bachelor’s degrees in . The D3 Men’s Football team at Greenville made $310,401 in revenue, while incurring $296,084 in expenses. Thus, the team actually made $14,317, which isn’t bad at all. Read More…

16
Concordia University, Chicago crest
Concordia University, Chicago
River Forest, Illinois

Concordia University, Chicago landed the #16 spot on the 2023 Best Colleges for Division III Men’s Football in Illinois ranking. Concordia University, Chicago is a private not-for-profit institution located in River Forest, Illinois. The school has a medium-sized population, and it awarded 329 bachelor’s degrees in . The D3 Men’s Football team at Concordia University, Chicago made $473,086 in revenue, while incurring $471,314 in expenses. That boils down to a yearly profit of $1,772 for the sports team. Full Concordia University, Chicago Sports Report

17
Eureka College crest
Eureka College
Eureka, Illinois

With a ranking of #17, Eureka College did quite well on the 2023 Best Colleges for Division III Men’s Football in Illinois ranking. Located in Eureka, Illinois, the small private not-for-profit school handed out 143 bachelor’s degrees in . On the financial side of things, the D3 Men’s Football team at Eureka College made $189,373 in revenue. Read full sports report on Eureka College

18
19
Rockford crest
Rockford University
Rockford, Illinois

Rockford University came in at #19 in this year’s edition of the Best Colleges for Division III Men’s Football in Illinois ranking. Located in Rockford, Illinois, the small private not-for-profit school handed out 254 bachelor’s degrees in . The D3 Men’s Football team at Rockford brought home $360,302 in revenue in a single year. Read More…

Best Colleges for D3 Men's Football in the Great Lakes Region

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Notes and References

Footnotes

*Avg Tuition and Fees and Avg 4-Year Grad Rate are for the top 19 schools only.

References

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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