Which Illinois computer engineering program has the lowest debt?

UIUC reports the lowest median federal debt, $20,500, with first-year pay of $103,123.

How much do computer engineering graduates earn in Illinois?

The median across 5 Illinois computer engineering bachelor's programs is $71,841 in the first year after graduating and $103,105 five years after.

How many computer engineering bachelor's programs are in Illinois?

5 Illinois programs report first-year pay for their graduates, and 5 of them also report federal debt.

Computer Engineering (Bachelor's) Programs in Illinois, Ranked by Graduate Pay and Debt

5 programs report first-year pay
5 also report federal debt
Bachelor's in Computer Engineering

College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025

The short answer

The median Illinois computer engineering bachelor's program pays its graduates $71,841 in their first year, $7,074 less than the national median. UIUC reports the highest first-year pay ($103,123), and UIUC the lowest median debt ($20,500).

Median first-year pay$71,841National $78,915

Median pay after 5 years$103,105National $107,903

Median federal debt$23,813National $24,500

Debt-to-earnings32%National 31%

All 5 programs, ranked

Each figure is the median for the program's graduates. Programs that don't report a figure are listed last when you sort by it.

#	School	Year 1 pay	Year 5 pay	Debt	Debt to pay
1	UIUCChampaign · public	$103,123	$136,097	$20,500	20%
2	Illinois Institute of TechnologyChicago · private nonprofit	$81,252	$103,105	$26,500	33%
3	Southern Illinois University EdwardsvilleEdwardsville · public	$71,841	Not reported	$23,125	32%
4	UICChicago · public	$71,148	$80,522	$22,000	31%
5	Loyola ChicagoChicago · private nonprofit	$68,020	Not reported	$25,000	37%

One more program reports debt but not pay, so it isn't listed.

Debt and first-year pay at every Illinois computer engineering program

Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Illinois medians.

Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only the 5 programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.

Quick picks

"Debt for the pay" is median debt divided by first-year pay. Only programs that report both figures are included.

Careers this field leads to

These are the jobs that the federal crosswalk from fields of study to occupations links to computer engineering, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.

Software Developers

$132,110

Median pay in Illinois. 56,310 people work in this job in Illinois. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 10% from 2025 to 2035, with about 95,300 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.

Bottom 10%: $80,980Top 10%: $194,740

Architectural and Engineering Managers

$163,610

Median pay in Illinois. 8,900 people work in this job in Illinois. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 6% from 2025 to 2035, with about 14,900 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus 5 years or more of related work experience.

Bottom 10%: $112,090Top 10%: $231,880

Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers

$104,910

Median pay in Illinois. 6,530 people work in this job in Illinois. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 6% from 2025 to 2035, with about 10,700 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.

Bottom 10%: $65,480Top 10%: $150,620

Computer Network Architects

$132,790

Median pay in Illinois. 7,810 people work in this job in Illinois. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 8% from 2025 to 2035, with about 9,600 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus 5 years or more of related work experience.

Bottom 10%: $81,630Top 10%: $201,190

Common questions

UIUC in Champaign reports the highest median first-year pay, $103,123. Its median federal debt is $20,500.

Computer Engineering (Bachelor's) programs in the US, ranked165 programs by pay and debt

About this data

Earnings and debt only include students who received federal financial aid, and earnings only count graduates who were working and not enrolled in more school.
Debt only includes federal loans. Private loans and credit cards are not counted.
Some schools with several campuses report one combined figure for all of them. We count each of those schools once, and leave them out of Illinois rankings when their main campus is in another state.
Medians are across the computer engineering bachelor's programs that report each figure, so the counts differ by figure. Scorecard figures describe graduating classes from several years ago. BLS wages are from May 2025.

Sources

U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard, field of study and institution files, June 2026 release
Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025
Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025 to 2035
NCES, CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk, and IPEDS institution directory, 2024