Division I Comparison Paper

Division I State Schools Comparison A comparison between 11 Illinois State Schools

Division I State Schools Comparison i

Connor Dahlman

Division I State Schools Comparison ii

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

Division I State Schools Comparison 1

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 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.

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 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.

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.

1 Hopkins, J. (n.d.). Illinois college athletic programs heavily funded by students. Retrieved August 1, 2015.


BibliographyBoard 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.


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Division I Comparison Paper