by our College Data Analytics TeamCollege Factual analyzes over 2,000 colleges and universities in its annual rankings and ranks them in a variety of ways, including most diverse, best overall quality, best for non-traditional students, and much more.
Eastern Illinois University was awarded 59 badges in the 2025 rankings. The highest ranked major at the school is health & physical education.
Explore the best ranked schools for the programs you are most interested in.
According to College Factual's 2025 analysis, EIU is ranked #1,263 out of 2,152 schools in the nation that were analyzed for overall quality.
EIU also holds the #52 spot on the Best Colleges in Illinois ranking.
If you're applying to Eastern Illinois University you'll face some tough competition, since the school's acceptance rate is only 68%. Definitely don't wait until the last minute to submit your application, since applying early may be in your favor.
About 1% of students accepted to EIU submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 460 and 570. Math scores were between 440 and 550.
The student to faculty ratio is often used to estimate how much interaction there is between professors and their students at a college or university. At Eastern Illinois University, this ratio is 15 to 1, which is on par with the national average of 15 to 1. That's not bad at all.
Another measure that is often used to estimate how much access students will have to their professors is how many faculty members are full-time. The idea here is that part-time faculty tend to spend less time on campus, so they may not be as available to students as full-timers.
The full-time faculty percentage at Eastern Illinois University is 76%. This is higher than the national average of 47%.
The freshmen retention rate tells us what percentage of first-year, full-time students choose to continue on to their sophomore year at a particular school. The rate at Eastern Illinois University is 71%, which is about average when compared to the national rate of 68%.
When it comes to finishing their studies on time, those seeking a bachelor's degree from EIU have a four-year graduation rate of 35%. This is comparable to the national average of 33.3%
Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at Eastern Illinois University.
During the 2017-2018 academic year, there were 6,969 undergraduates at EIU with 4,082 being full-time and 2,887 being part-time.
| $0-30 K | $30K-48K | $48-75 | $75-110K | $110K + |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $9,498 | $7,854 | $12,381 | $18,148 | $19,335 |
The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid.Note that the net price is typically less than the published for a school. For more information on the sticker price of EIU, see our tuition and fees and room and board pages.
It's not uncommon for college students to take out loans to pay for school. In fact, almost 66% of students nationwide depend at least partially on loans. At EIU, approximately 63% of students took out student loans averaging $6,041 a year. That adds up to $24,164 over four years for those students.
Get more details about paying for Eastern Illinois University.
See which majors at Eastern Illinois University make the most money.
Get more details about the location of Eastern Illinois University.
Contact details for EIU are given below.
| Contact Details | |
|---|---|
| Address: | 600 Lincoln Avenue, Charleston, IL 61920 |
| Phone: | 217-581-5000 |
| Website: | https://www.eiu.edu/ |
| Most Popular Majors | Bachelor’s Degrees | Average Salary of Graduates |
|---|---|---|
| General Psychology | 112 | $35,740 |
| Liberal Arts General Studies | 102 | $40,273 |
| Health & Physical Education | 99 | $34,511 |
| Educational Administration | 90 | NA |
| Teacher Education Grade Specific | 86 | $41,582 |
| General Biology | 71 | $31,278 |
| Fine & Studio Arts | 71 | $26,213 |
| Business Administration & Management | 68 | NA |
| Curriculum & Instruction | 63 | NA |
| Communication & Media Studies | 62 | $37,778 |
Online learning is becoming popular at even the oldest colleges and universities in the United States. Not only are online classes great for returning adults with busy schedules, they are also frequented by a growing number of traditional students.
In 2022-2023, 3,815 students took at least one online class at Eastern Illinois University. This is a decrease from the 3,908 students who took online classes the previous year.
| Year | Took at Least One Online Class | Took All Classes Online |
|---|---|---|
| 2022-2023 | 3,815 | 1,382 |
| 2021-2022 | 3,908 | 1,459 |
| 2020-2021 | 5,422 | 1,706 |
| 2018-2019 | 2,495 | 985 |
Learn more about online learning at Eastern Illinois University.
Footnotes
*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.