-74%
Undergraduate enrollment
Undergraduate enrollment at Illinois Media School fell 74% between 2021 and 2024 (121 → 32).
Illinois · Private for-profit · Predominantly certificates
Illinois Media School
Chicago, Illinois. 36 undergraduate students. 4 programs in the federal Field-of-Study dataset.
ANOMALY ENGINE · NOTABLE SIGNALS
What the data flags at Illinois Media School
Short-arc shifts (recent 3-year window), peer outliers, earnings trend breaks, completion drops, enrollment cliffs, and debt-to-earnings warnings — surfaced deterministically from the federal record. Multi-decade shifts are reported separately in the Long Arc section, since 25-year tuition drift isn't really an anomaly.
-23%
First-year retention
First-year retention at Illinois Media School fell 23% between 2021 and 2024 (86.4% → 66.7%).
-18pp
150%-time completion
150%-time completion fell 18 pp at Illinois Media School vs the 2003–2007 baseline (67.3% vs 85.6%).
+17%
In-state tuition
In-state tuition at Illinois Media School rose 17% between 2003 and 2006 ($11.6k → $13.6k).
SECTION 01 · OUTCOMES SNAPSHOT
The numbers, vs. Illinois
Each tile compares this institution to the Illinois median for the same metric. Sub-line shows the comparison value, not an interpretation. Sparklines trace the federally available history.
$38,284+20% · 6→10y
Illinois median $40,810$31,958
Treasury earnings · 6y post-entry67.3%-4% · '98→'09
Illinois median 53.3%$9,500+399% · '97→'20
At program completion36-68% · '96→'24
latest IPEDS75.0%-23% · '04→'24
first-time, full-time—+21% · '06→'19
latest cohort—+42% · '00→'06
annualSECTION 02 · EARNINGS HORIZONS
How earnings spread, 4 to 10 years after entry
Treasury tax-record earnings for federally aided students who first enrolled at this institution. Each point is a horizon from the most-recent vintage. Single median per horizon (no p25/p75 publishing).
Earnings widen with time post-entry. Selection: federal-aid recipients only — not all graduates.Methodology →
SECTION 03 · DEBT-TO-EARNINGS
What loans cost relative to earnings
Annual debt service as a share of median earnings 10 years after entry, computed under federal Direct loan terms (10-year fixed at 6%). The 8% line is the gainful-employment threshold from federal regulation; above 12% has historically been considered “failing” under prior rule cycles.
Institution-wide
3.3%Median federal debt $9,500 amortized over 10 years vs. median earnings $38,284 (10y after entry).
SECTION 04 · LONG ARC
Ten-plus year arc
Federally available history. Coverage varies by metric — IPEDS publishes some series only after 2009 and others only before.
Undergraduate enrollment.
150%-time completion rate.
Median federal student debt at exit.
-23%
Illinois Media School · retention fell
87.0% → 66.7%
-34%
Illinois Media School · undergrad enrollment fell
99 → 32
+42%
Illinois Media School · in-state tuition rose
$9,595 → $13,608
+42%
Illinois Media School · out-of-state tuition rose
$9,595 → $13,608
+399%
Illinois Media School · median debt rose
$1,902 → $9,500
-100%
Illinois Media School · cohort default rate fell
4.7% → 0.0%
+27%
Illinois Media School · pell share rose
43.7% → 55.3%
SECTION 05 · PROGRAMS
Ranked by 5-year earnings
Each row is one (CIP × credential) program reported by the institution in College Scorecard's Field-of-Study data. Cohort floor is 30 students; below this, federal data is suppressed.
SECTION 06 · BY CIP FAMILY
1 programs with earnings, grouped
Programs are grouped by 2-digit CIP family. Programs without reported earnings are hidden to keep the list focused.
COMMUNICATION & JOURNALISM · CIP 09
FINANCIAL OUTCOME · ILLUSTRATION
Estimate the financial outcome at Illinois Media School
Pick a program. Cost from Scorecard net price by family income; earnings from Treasury 5-year-post-completion median, projected forward with a Mincer age-earnings curve. The selection-bias toggle applies the Dale-Krueger shrinkage. Outcomes illustration, not a forecast — see methodology.
Shrinks the earnings premium toward the matched-applicant mean. STEM <15%, business ~40%, arts & education ~60%.
NET PRESENT VALUE
-$114,545
Over 40 years, discounted 5.0%
BREAKEVEN
—
Doesn’t reach breakeven within the horizon
- Cost per year
- $30,953
- HS-only baseline · IL
- $38,300
- Years to complete
- 1
- CIP family
- 09
Outcomes illustration · not a forecast. Projects observed Scorecard earnings forward with a Mincer age-earnings curve under your assumptions. See methodology for the math.
SECTION 07 · SIMILAR INSTITUTIONS
Same sector and degree mix in Illinois
Picked by Carnegie sector × predominant credential level. These are not rankings — just nearest-neighbour surfaces for comparison.
CAUSAL DISCIPLINE
“Illinois Media School graduates earn $X” — not “Illinois Media School makes you earn $X”
Median earnings describe what cohorts earned. They do not describe what attending Illinois Media School caused. Selection effects (who admits, who enrolls, who completes) are real. We publish federal data with strict descriptive phrasing — and link the methodology where you can read about the limitations directly.