Which Illinois finance program has the lowest debt?

Northeastern Illinois University reports the lowest median federal debt, $12,502, with first-year pay of $48,807.

How much do finance graduates earn in Illinois?

The median across 21 Illinois finance bachelor's programs is $54,261 in the first year after graduating and $82,692 five years after.

How many finance bachelor's programs are in Illinois?

21 Illinois programs report first-year pay for their graduates, and 20 of them also report federal debt.

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

21 programs report first-year pay
20 also report federal debt
Bachelor's in Finance and Financial Management Services

College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025

The short answer

The median Illinois finance bachelor's program pays its graduates $54,261 in their first year, $888 more than the national median. UIUC reports the highest first-year pay ($75,381), and Northeastern Illinois University the lowest median debt ($12,502).

Median first-year pay$54,261National $53,373

Median pay after 5 years$82,692National $77,457

Median federal debt$23,326National $23,250

Debt-to-earnings42%National 44%

All 21 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	$75,381	$118,286	$19,500	26%
2	Loyola ChicagoChicago · private nonprofit	$66,919	$102,491	$24,988	37%
3	DePaul UniversityChicago · private nonprofit	$66,863	$91,702	$23,000	34%
4	Illinois Wesleyan UniversityBloomington · private nonprofit	$62,619	$102,441	$26,000	42%
5	Lake Forest CollegeLake Forest · private nonprofit	$61,264	$84,573	$27,000	44%
6	Elmhurst UniversityElmhurst · private nonprofit	$57,171	$85,336	$18,250	32%
7	UICChicago · public	$55,591	$77,460	$17,625	32%
8	Illinois CollegeJacksonville · private nonprofit	$55,155	Not reported	$27,000	49%
9	Illinois StateNormal · public	$54,958	$86,558	$20,500	37%
10	Northern Illinois UniversityDekalb · public	$54,802	$79,501	$19,500	36%
11	Bradley UniversityPeoria · private nonprofit	$54,261	$81,681	$20,905	39%
12	University of St FrancisJoliet · private nonprofit	$53,525	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported
13	Lewis UniversityRomeoville · private nonprofit	$52,742	$75,797	$25,688	49%
14	Benedictine UniversityLisle · private nonprofit	$51,444	$88,903	$25,500	50%
15	Aurora UniversityAurora · private nonprofit	$51,437	Not reported	$24,499	48%
16	North Central CollegeNaperville · private nonprofit	$51,420	$83,703	$27,000	53%
17	Eastern Illinois UniversityCharleston · public	$51,370	$83,935	$22,468	44%
18	Roosevelt UniversityChicago · private nonprofit	$50,158	$75,948	$26,000	52%
19	Northeastern Illinois UniversityChicago · public	$48,807	$63,709	$12,502	26%
20	Southern Illinois University-CarbondaleCarbondale · public	$48,708	$63,649	$20,447	42%
21	Saint Xavier UniversityChicago · private nonprofit	$46,452	$77,093	$23,326	50%

University of St Francis reports pay but not debt, so it is ranked only by pay. One more program reports debt but not pay, so it isn't listed.

Debt and first-year pay at every Illinois finance 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 20 programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.

Quick picks

Highest first-year pay

Lowest median debt

Lowest debt for the pay

"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 finance, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.

General and Operations Managers

$103,570

Median pay in Illinois. 171,300 people work in this job in Illinois. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 5% from 2025 to 2035, with about 285,000 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus 5 years or more of related work experience.

Bottom 10%: $53,240Top 10%: $269,320

Financial Managers

$165,880

Median pay in Illinois. 52,720 people work in this job in Illinois. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 10% from 2025 to 2035, with about 65,600 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus 5 years or more of related work experience.

Bottom 10%: $100,070Top 10%: $313,110

Securities, Commodities, and Financial Services Sales Agents

$99,840

Median pay in Illinois. 27,920 people work in this job in Illinois. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 1% from 2025 to 2035, with about 35,100 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.

Bottom 10%: $50,330Top 10%: $209,840

Financial and Investment Analysts

$101,180

Median pay in Illinois. 20,520 people work in this job in Illinois. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 7% from 2025 to 2035, with about 24,700 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.

Bottom 10%: $64,700Top 10%: $166,090

Common questions

UIUC in Champaign reports the highest median first-year pay, $75,381. Its median federal debt is $19,500.

Finance (Bachelor's) programs in the US, ranked407 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 finance 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