1. Division I State Schools
Comparison
A comparison between 11 Illinois State Schools
Connor Dahlman

2. DivisionI State Schools Comparison 1
Division I State Schools Comparison
A comparison between 11 Illinois State Schools
While being downtown at UIC, I learned a lot of what it takes to be employed at a
division I school. There are more athletes, there are more employees, and overall, there is
just so much more going on. For this project, I looked into 11 different state schools in
Illinois and compared the numbers and information that I found online. There were two
state schools that I left out because the amount of information wasn’t comparable to the
other schools. Those schools were Governors State, and Northeastern Illinois. The
University of Illinois at Springfield is not considered a Division I institution, which sets
itself apart on this list. I kept the information in there, since it is still a state funded school,
and has ample amount of information, that is comparable to the rest. The information that I
am going off of is enrollment, population of the surrounding areas, revenue generated by
the athletic department, how much the athletic directors make at each school, and how
much the school profits from student fees that are included in tuition costs.
The first category that I looked at was overall student enrollment. Out of all the data
that I inquired about,
this was had the
closest amount of
comparison. Looking
at the graph, the
enrollment is
comparable between
Eastern Illinois,
Chicago State and the
University of Illinois at
Springfield. They sit
at, or below 10,000
students, respectively.
The next comparable
group would be
Illinois State, Northern
Illinois, Southern Illinois at Carbondale, Southern Illinois at Edwardsville and Western
Illinois. All of those are at, or below 21,500, respectively. The two outliers that are in the

3. DivisionI State Schools Comparison 2
group are the University of Illinois at Chicago, and the University of Illinois at Champaign-
Urbana.
Looking more in depth to the numbers presented in the graph, the groupings also
play a roll in athletics. The smaller schools have smaller athletic programs and on the other
hand, the larger schools have bigger athletic programs and may be able to compete at
higher levels than the smaller schools. Eastern Illinois, and Chicago State are mid-majors,
while Eastern is a step below Chicago State. Both of these are comparable because of the
enrollment numbers being below 10,000, respectively. The next group that is comparable
is Illinois State, Northern Illinois, Southern Illinois at Carbondale, Southern Illinois at
Edwardsville and Western Illinois because they hover around the same amount of
enrollment. The median enrollment between them is around 18,961.
The next category that can be compared is the location of the schools. The only thing
is that the University of Illinois Chicago is located downtown, so I didn’t include that in the
graph, because it
would skew the
numbers. As you can
see from the graph,
the Institutions are
located in roughly the
same populated areas.
Illinois State,
University of Illinois
Urbana-Champaign,
and the University of
Illinois Springfield are
three that can be put
in the same boat
because they are in heavier populated areas, but at the same time it is hard to compare
them because of how for the numbers are from one another.
The schools that can be comparable, however, are Eastern Illinois, Southern Illinois
Carbondale, Southern Illinois Edwardsville, and Western Illinois because the median of the
cities comes to 31,794, which is considered a medium size city. These schools have the
setting of a “big school,” in a small town. The two out of the group that I would compare the
most would be Western Illinois and Eastern Illinois. The reason I say this is because both
cities are located in the middle of nowhere, and they have division one schools in the area.

4. DivisionI State Schools Comparison 3
The University of Illinois Springfield is unique to the circumstances because it is in
the capital of the state, which has a population of around 120,000. That puts it at the
second largest city for a state institution, behind the state institutions in the city of Chicago.
The next topic that I looked at was the revenue generated by the athletic
department. These numbers were comparable because of the size of the schools. The major
outlier that was in this category was the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana, again.
This is not surprising
because of the size of
the school, and the
level of athletics. The
schools that are
comparable are
Eastern Illinois,
Illinois State,
University of Illinois
Chicago, and Western
Illinois. The other
ones that are
comparable are
Northern Illinois and
Southern Illinois at
Carbondale. The last two that are comparable are Chicago state, and Southern Illinois at
Edwardsville.
The schools that are listed above are comparable because they have roughly the
same amount of revenue, minus the outlier, University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana. There
are three schools that are listed that I couldn’t find the data for, and those are Governors
State, Northeastern Illinois, and University of Illinois at Springfield. I broke up the schools
based on the graph. The graph looks a bit skewed, but that is because of the near $80
million that the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana brings in.
The next set of
numbers that I looked
at to compare schools,
was the salaries of the
athletic director at
each school. These
numbers were more
surprising than I

5. DivisionI State Schools Comparison 4
thought. I knew that the people that hold these positions have a lot of responsibility, and
with that comes a hefty salary, but I didn’t know how much it truly was. The graph tells the
whole story with what schools are comparable. Most of them are all right around the same
number that hovers between $100,000 and $150,000. Almost all of the schools are
comparable except the obvious ones, which are Northern Illinois, University of Illinois
Chicago, and University of Illinoi Champaign-Urbana. Those schools can be put in the same
category because they are all paid higher than the rest.
The final source of data that I compared was the profit percent from the student fees
that are included in the tuition. One major benefit to the fees being integrated into the
tuition is that the students get to attend all athletic contests for free. I think that will benefit
the students, as long
as they take advantage
of everything that is
included in it. The
schools that are
making the most from
the students are
Illinois State and
Southern Illinois at
Edwardsville. Those
two schools have had
a major increase in
student fees since
2008. 1 The schools
that are comparable
are Chicago State, Eastern Illinois and Western Illinois. If you connect all three of those
schools, you will notice that they are mid-major schools too. They aren’t the major schools
with high enrollment rates.
The schools that are up on this list are Illinois State, Southern Illinois and both
Carbondale and Edwardsville, and University of Illinois Chicago. Those schools are
comparable because they all have higher enrollment rates, and they are still making a large
amount of profit from the student fees. The surprising school that stood out to me was the
University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana, and how they only profit 4% from students. I
would have been under the assumption that the school would be making more because of
how big the school is.
1 Hopkins, J. (n.d.). Illinois college athletic programs heavily funded by students.Retrieved August 1, 2015.

6. DivisionI State Schools Comparison 5
In conclusion, all of the schools in the state of Illinois can be comparable in certain
aspects. All of the public institutions in the state may be feeding off of one another because
of how comparable these schools are. If that is the case, that isn’t a bad idea because I’m
assuming they all talk to one another, especially the schools that have different locations.
While being at the University of Illinois Chicago for my internship, I got the feel for what it
would be like to be at a mid-major school. Looking at all of the numbers and all of the
reports, I now have somewhat of an idea of how the school runs, and how it works.

7. DivisionI State Schools Comparison 6
Bibliography
Board of Trustees - University of Illinois: Gray Book. (n.d.). Retrieved July 31, 2015.
Hopkins, J. (n.d.). Illinois college athletic programs heavily funded by students.Retrieved August 1, 2015.
NCAA college athletics department finances database.(n.d.). Retrieved August 2, 2015.