How has Northern Illinois University changed over time?

Multi-year trends in admissions, enrollment, test scores, and cost. Every chart is labeled with its data source and the years it covers — no smoothing, no mixing sources.

Admission rate

Admission rate rose from 54% (2010) to 70% (2024).

Applicants and students admitted

Applicants rose from 19,084 (2010) to 23,651 (2024).

Enrollment

Total enrollment fell from 23,850 (2010) to 15,414 (2024).

SAT mid-50% range

SAT mid-50% range moved from 900–1120 (2016) to 940–1170 (2019).

Score data describes enrolled freshmen, not all admitted students.
Years before 2016 use the old 2400-point SAT and are not shown.

Source: IPEDS (U.S. Dept. of Education) · 2016–2019

ACT mid-50% range

ACT mid-50% range moved from 20–24 (2005) to 19–25 (2019).

Cost

In-state tuition rose from $12,422 (2011) to $13,792 (2025).

See how similar schools have changed

Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, GA76% admitted

Arizona State University Digital Immersion, AZ67% admitted

Bloomfield College of Montclair State University, NJ70% admitted

Data from IPEDS and the College Scorecard (U.S. Department of Education) and school Common Data Set filings; each chart names the source its series comes from. Most recent data year: 2025. Last updated October 19, 2026.