Gov. JB Pritzker, in collaboration with the Illinois Board of Higher Education, the Illinois Community College Board and the Illinois Student Assistance Commission, launched a program Aug. 19 which will automatically enroll students in public Illinois universities as long as they meet the minimum GPA requirement of the university.
One Click College Admit is a program that has been designed for Illinois students to stay in state by having them continue their education after high school in the state’s public institutions.
The program started with the class of 2026 during their college admission process. Students must create a Common App account as well as submit their GPA and basic biographical information.
Students no longer need to submit admission essays, pay application fees or acquire letters of recommendation to attend college.
This is interesting. I’m sure at UIUC, the number will be pretty high and would only guarantee admission to the school as a whole. I’m sure competitive majors like CS and Engineering would not be guaranteed by GPA alone.
This is a good move by the state as some of the directional schools are suffering from declining enrollment.
Chicago State, Eastern Illinois University, Governors State University, Illinois State University, Northeastern Illinois University, Northern Illinois University, Southern Illinois University, University of Illinois Springfield, Western Illinois University and community colleges.
Sadly, we don’t hear about those schools but I know that Northern Illinois struggles - their muni bond rating is junk - yet they issue bonds with insurance so the insurer knows the school is going to pay. No state is going to let a public school default - would be that logic. Or the insurer wouldn’t issue a policy as like all insurance, they don’t want to be on the hook.
That we don’t hear about these schools is perhaps why they and not UIUC/UIC are a part of the program.
I imagine if UIUC had an auto admit program that it’d be ranked base - like other schools.
It might, at some time, see Illinois combined campuses like PA and others - if the demand isn’t there.
It’s one state known for losing kids to other states that provide a cheaper education although (to me), the costs of some of these look reasonable. But a lot of Illinois kids are leaving the state - there’s articles about it.
WIU is struggling too. I would assume the same for most of the others. Not sure about EIU.
If only UIUC was participating! It would be real nice even if it wasn’t for CS. At my HS in Western IL, we have a lot of kids go to Iowa State, U of Iowa, and Mizzou because it’s often just much cheaper for them. We have some kids that go to SIUE and WIU, but they’re still not cheap!
At my kid’s high school, there was an SAT/GPA combination above which all kids were accepted to UIUC. You could look at the Naviance for the kids from the school, and that entire segment was solid green, not a single rejection. That included admissions to engineering and CS as well. It roughly corresponded to the top 10% of the school by GPA/SAT combination. So there was, in many senses, auto-admission. However, I don’t know whether the same was true for other Illinois high schools. I also don’t know what’s going on now.
The program is basically to encourage kids to stay in state and promote these lessor known colleges. Most are having some financial issues.
I met someone in line at a Michigan restaurant last year and he recruited for engineering at a Detroit manufacture firm. He said they get most of their engineers from Northern Illinois University. I asked why and he said he really likes the way they are trained….. Just goes to show you, you don’t need a big name school to get a job.
At my HS in Western IL, we have a lot of kids go to Iowa State, U of Iowa, and Mizzou because it’s often just much cheaper for them. We have some kids that go to SIUE and WIU, but they’re still not cheap!