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Elsah, Illinois
Thinking about Principia College, a college in Illinois where more students graduate in Education than anything else? The four things worth knowing are what it actually costs after aid, whether you would get in, whether students finish, and what they earn after they do.
Principia College is a private nonprofit institution offering bachelor's degrees based in Elsah, Illinois. It enrolls 339 students (a very small, intimate student body), according to IPEDS 2023-24 data. Every figure on this page is reported by the federal government, not supplied by the college, so it can be compared like for like against anywhere else you are looking.
Official website: principiacollege.edu
These four scores answer one question: compared with similar colleges, is this one worth the money? Each runs 0 to 100 and is judged only against its peer group (4-Year Open / Online), so a community college is never marked down for not being Harvard. Everything is computed from federal data. Nobody can pay to move a score, and a pillar with missing data is left unscored rather than guessed.
Principia College does not report an acceptance rate. Schools that do not publish one are usually open-admission, but confirm with the admissions office before you assume it.
Acceptance rate over the last five admission cycles. The trend tells you whether Principia College is getting harder, easier, or staying about the same.
Ignore the sticker price. What matters is the net price, which is what a typical family pays here after grants and scholarships come off. Principia College has not reported one, so ask the financial aid office for a written estimate before comparing it against anywhere else.
Published cost of attendance, the sticker price before grants and scholarships. Most students underestimate room & board and other expenses.
80% come back after first year. A sizeable share do not return for year two. Worth asking why. Source: IPEDS 2023-24.
Completion and earnings carry the most weight in this college's score, and how the UCD Score weighs each measure sets out exactly how they are combined.
Who you would actually be sitting next to: 339 students, an intimate, close-knit community.
Undergraduate student body composition reported to the US Department of Education.
Where students live, learn, and connect at Principia College. The campus setting, housing profile, and signals that shape day-to-day life here.
After that comes the national picture for Social Sciences graduates, which shows what the field pays across every college rather than just this one.
Principia College offers a varied set of programs: 25 distinct programs across 15 majors. Below are its strongest majors, each with flagship programs and typical earnings. Open a major to explore it in depth, or browse the full program catalog.
There are 5 students for every instructor here: small classes, and staff who are likely to know your name.
60 instructional faculty across 4 ranks. The rank mix shows how many senior faculty are teaching versus contingent or junior staff, with average salary equated to a 9-month contract.
| Rank | Faculty Count | Share | Avg Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full Professors | 20 | 33% | $95,676 |
| Associate Professors | 12 | 20% | $80,980 |
| Assistant Professors | 22 | 37% | $73,504 |
| Instructors | 6 | 10% | $52,129 |
No college is right for everyone. Here is where Principia College is likely to suit you and where it may not, based on the same figures shown above.
Read against a single profile these cut both ways, which is why it helps to put two colleges side by side on the same measures rather than judging one in isolation.
The questions families ask most about Principia College, answered straight from the federal data rather than from the college's own marketing.
One federal dataset, 3,811 colleges. The median school costs $16,296 a year, admits 78% of applicants, and enrolls 1,280 students. The shape of US higher ed.
Across 1,645 four-year colleges, graduation rates climb steadily with selectivity, from 54% at open-admission schools to 93% at the most exclusive. The gap is real.
For-profit colleges post the highest median net price of any sector and the lowest graduate earnings. They cost more than private nonprofits and pay less than publics.
Browse our full directory: every college, major, program, and career we track, all built from verified government data.
Scout uses AI and can make mistakes. Verify important numbers on the page.
