Industrial Engineering at University of Illinois Chicago

UIC's industrial engineering program starts graduates at $57,000—well below both the state median ($72,600) and national median ($74,700) for this degree. Among Illinois's six industrial engineering programs, it ranks in the bottom quartile, trailing not just the elite options like Northwestern and UIUC, but also mid-tier programs at Southern Illinois and Northern Illinois by roughly $15,000. That's a significant gap for what should be a reliably strong-earning technical field.

The debt picture offers modest relief. At $22,247, graduates borrow slightly less than typical industrial engineering students, keeping the debt-to-earnings ratio reasonable at 0.39. Strong earnings growth—29% over four years to $74,000—eventually closes most of the gap with state peers. However, that first year matters enormously for building financial momentum, and starting $15,000+ behind comparable programs means real opportunity cost.

The small sample size here (under 30 graduates tracked) warrants caution—a few outliers could skew these numbers considerably. But even accounting for statistical noise, the consistent pattern across metrics is hard to ignore. For families considering industrial engineering in Illinois, this program's accessibility (79% admission rate, 50% Pell-eligible students) comes at a measurable earnings tradeoff compared to alternatives that may not be dramatically harder to access, like Northern Illinois or Southern Illinois Edwardsville.