Which Illinois management science program has the lowest debt?

UIC reports the lowest median federal debt, $17,750, with first-year pay of $45,665.

How much do management science graduates earn in Illinois?

The median across 13 Illinois management science bachelor's programs is $48,715 in the first year after graduating and $66,131 five years after.

How many management science bachelor's programs are in Illinois?

13 Illinois programs report first-year pay for their graduates, and 13 of them also report federal debt.

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

13 programs report first-year pay
13 also report federal debt
Bachelor's in Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods

College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025

The short answer

The median Illinois management science bachelor's program pays its graduates $48,715 in their first year, $12,582 less than the national median. North Central College reports the highest first-year pay ($85,168), and UIC the lowest median debt ($17,750).

Median first-year pay$48,715National $61,297

Median pay after 5 years$66,131National $81,243

Median federal debt$24,750National $23,500

Debt-to-earnings46%National 39%

All 13 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	North Central CollegeNaperville · private nonprofit	$85,168	Not reported	$26,851	32%
2	UIUCChampaign · public	$72,527	$100,568	$21,000	29%
3	National Louis UniversityChicago · private nonprofit	$59,084	$79,141	$26,094	44%
4	Benedictine UniversityLisle · private nonprofit	$58,820	Not reported	$25,000	43%
5	DePaul UniversityChicago · private nonprofit	$51,522	$73,253	$24,500	48%
6	Northern Illinois UniversityDekalb · public	$51,128	$65,538	$21,600	42%
7	Roosevelt UniversityChicago · private nonprofit	$48,715	$66,723	$25,000	51%
8	Illinois StateNormal · public	$47,553	$74,155	$23,250	49%
9	McKendree UniversityLebanon · private nonprofit	$45,899	$64,856	$21,203	46%
10	University of St FrancisJoliet · private nonprofit	$45,735	$68,064	$24,250	53%
11	UICChicago · public	$45,665	$65,417	$17,750	39%
12	Southern Illinois University-CarbondaleCarbondale · public	$42,711	$62,561	$27,000	63%
13	Eastern Illinois UniversityCharleston · public	$42,500	$57,214	$25,000	59%

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

Debt and first-year pay at every Illinois management science 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 13 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 management science, 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

Management Analysts

$104,270

Median pay in Illinois. 45,820 people work in this job in Illinois. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 10% from 2025 to 2035, with about 94,100 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus less than 5 years of related work experience.

Bottom 10%: $57,610Top 10%: $175,360

Data Scientists

$106,560

Median pay in Illinois. 10,520 people work in this job in Illinois. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 35% from 2025 to 2035, with about 24,800 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.

Bottom 10%: $68,810Top 10%: $168,880

Chief Executives

$331,920

Median pay in Illinois. 4,620 people work in this job in Illinois. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 3% from 2025 to 2035, with about 19,100 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus 5 years or more of related work experience.

Bottom 10%: $133,170Top 10%: $589,720

Common questions

North Central College in Naperville reports the highest median first-year pay, $85,168. Its median federal debt is $26,851.

Management Science (Bachelor's) programs in the US, ranked113 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 management science 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