Equity Snapshot University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Abstract

Public flagship universities were established to provide an excellent education to their states’ residents and are therefore well positioned to enhance social and economic mobility within their states. Yet in many cases, too few low-income students and students of color have access to these elite colleges and the opportunities they provide. This analysis of racial and socioeconomic equity at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) finds large and growing gaps in college access, as well as gaps in college completion, by race and socioeconomic status. To serve as a catalyst for mobility and equity in Illinois, UIUC must do a better job enrolling and graduating low-income students and students of color.