Which Illinois nursing program has the lowest debt?

Benedictine University reports the lowest median federal debt, $17,188, with first-year pay of $80,136.

How much do nursing graduates earn in Illinois?

The median across 32 Illinois nursing bachelor's programs is $73,150 in the first year after graduating and $80,063 five years after. Registered nurses in Illinois earn a median of $95,990 across all experience levels.

How many nursing bachelor's programs are in Illinois?

32 Illinois programs report first-year pay for their graduates, and 32 of them also report federal debt.

Nursing (BSN) Programs in Illinois, Ranked by Graduate Pay and Debt

32 programs report first-year pay
32 also report federal debt
Bachelor's in Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing

College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025

The short answer

The median Illinois nursing bachelor's program pays its graduates $73,150 in their first year, $1,289 less than the national median. Chamberlain University reports the highest first-year pay ($83,188), and Benedictine University the lowest median debt ($17,188).

Median first-year pay$73,150National $74,438

Median pay after 5 years$80,063National $81,525

Median federal debt$27,000National $27,000

Debt-to-earnings36%National 36%

All 32 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	Chamberlain UniversityAddison · private for-profit	$83,188	$92,768	$39,146	47%
2	Governors StateUniversity Park · public	$80,391	$107,166	$27,342	34%
3	Benedictine UniversityLisle · private nonprofit	$80,136	$80,958	$17,188	21%
4	Saint Xavier UniversityChicago · private nonprofit	$78,285	$83,102	$27,188	35%
5	Loyola ChicagoChicago · private nonprofit	$76,869	$86,020	$27,000	35%
6	Lewis UniversityRomeoville · private nonprofit	$76,766	$86,450	$27,000	35%
7	Trinity Christian CollegePalos Heights · private nonprofit	$76,446	$76,428	$27,000	35%
8	University of St FrancisJoliet · private nonprofit	$75,811	$87,282	$30,700	40%
9	Illinois Wesleyan UniversityBloomington · private nonprofit	$75,629	$80,063	$27,000	36%
10	Northern Illinois UniversityDekalb · public	$75,557	$78,637	$31,000	41%
11	Roosevelt UniversityChicago · private nonprofit	$75,231	Not reported	$31,000	41%
12	UICChicago · public	$75,045	$85,957	$20,500	27%
13	Western Illinois UniversityMacomb · public	$74,490	$80,342	$23,750	32%
14	North Park UniversityChicago · private nonprofit	$73,846	$83,592	$27,000	37%
15	Elmhurst UniversityElmhurst · private nonprofit	$73,820	$81,296	$25,000	34%
16	McKendree UniversityLebanon · private nonprofit	$73,156	$94,002	$26,534	36%
17	Bradley UniversityPeoria · private nonprofit	$73,143	$78,827	$27,000	37%
18	Illinois StateNormal · public	$72,709	$83,441	$23,075	32%
19	Aurora UniversityAurora · private nonprofit	$72,520	$80,026	$26,000	36%
20	Saint Anthony College of NursingRockford · private nonprofit	$71,970	$75,894	$22,500	31%
21	Millikin UniversityDecatur · private nonprofit	$71,848	$77,191	$27,000	38%
22	Southern Illinois University EdwardsvilleEdwardsville · public	$71,161	$76,988	$23,043	32%
23	Rockford UniversityRockford · private nonprofit	$70,940	$75,490	$30,500	43%
24	Dominican UniversityRiver Forest · private nonprofit	$70,530	Not reported	$23,083	33%
25	Lakeview College of NursingDanville · private nonprofit	$69,090	$78,056	$26,464	38%
26	Methodist CollegePeoria · private nonprofit	$67,809	$73,700	$46,375	68%
27	Saint Francis Medical Center College of NursingPeoria · private nonprofit	$67,776	$70,958	$18,500	27%
28	Olivet Nazarene UniversityBourbonnais · private nonprofit	$67,670	$84,759	$27,000	40%
29	St. John's College (Illinois)Springfield · private nonprofit	$67,550	$74,828	$27,375	41%
30	Trinity College of Nursing & Health SciencesRock Island · private nonprofit	$67,202	$68,573	$35,500	53%
31	Chicago StateChicago · public	$63,869	$94,672	$51,937	81%
32	Blessing Rieman College of Nursing and Health SciencesQuincy · private nonprofit	$63,335	$74,370	$25,571	40%

Some nursing bachelor's programs are for nurses who are already licensed and working (RN-to-BSN). College Scorecard counts them with programs for new students, and their graduates' pay reflects years of nursing experience, so high pay at a program here may not mean higher starting pay for a new nurse.

Debt and first-year pay at every Illinois nursing 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 32 programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.

Quick picks

Highest first-year pay

Lowest median debt

Benedictine University$17,188
Saint Francis Medical Center College of Nursing$18,500
UIC$20,500
Saint Anthony College of Nursing$22,500
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville$23,043

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.

What registered nurses earn in Illinois

Pay for registered nurses in Illinois, across all experience levels, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Registered Nurses

$95,990

Median pay in Illinois. 138,910 people work in this job in Illinois. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 6% from 2025 to 2035, with about 180,800 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.

Bottom 10%: $69,170Top 10%: $118,190

Common questions

Chamberlain University in Addison reports the highest median first-year pay, $83,188. Its median federal debt is $39,146.

Nursing (BSN) programs in the US, ranked895 programs by pay and debt Nursing (ADN) programs in Illinois, ranked34 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 nursing 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