Carbondale, IL · Public · Every figure is for a student starting in fall 2027. We work each one out again whenever we update the site.

How to pay for Southern Illinois University-Carbondale

What a year costs here, what brings it down, and what a SmartTuition plan could save a family like yours.

Paying for four years here

Household income
Saved for college

Four years here, after grants

$52,718

A SmartTuition plan could save a family like this about $6,400.

A SmartTuition plan shows what to pay from where, each semester, using your own numbers.

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A family of four with good credit and $500 a month for college. How we worked these out ↓

A year at Southern Illinois University Carbondale

Full price, in state$27,712
Full price, out of state$27,712
After grants, at your income$12,372

At this income, 2 of Illinois's other 38 colleges cost less after grants, and 36 cost more. See them all →

What can bring it down

Southern Illinois University Carbondale's promise. AIM HIGH/Saluki Commitment: tuition and mandatory fees, after other aid, for Illinois residents with a family income under $125,200, from fall 2021. The conditions ↓

Pay less for college

A SmartTuition plan shows what to pay from where, each semester.

At Southern Illinois University Carbondale, our scenarios for Illinois households with good parent credit show a SmartTuition plan saving a median of about $9,200 over four years. How we worked this out ↓

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Published guarantees you may qualify for

We do not assume you qualify for any of these, and our plans never bank on them. Check each against your own situation with the aid office.

  • AIM HIGH/Saluki Commitment: tuition and mandatory fees, after other aid, for Illinois residents with a family income under $125,200, from fall 2021

    Household income up to $125,199. Covers tuition, fees.

    • For a first-time full-time freshman on campus who is an Illinois resident, attended an Illinois high school and is a dependent student under 24. The student has a 2.75 high school GPA and family assets under $50,000. It pays tuition and mandatory fees left after other aid for eight semesters, depending on state funding. It does not pay housing, course fees, books or insurance.
    “What’s covered Your tuition and mandatory fees will be covered after all other financial aid is applied. Coverage is guaranteed for four (transfer student) or eight (freshman student) consecutive fall and spring semesters over two(transfer only get it for two years) - four years as long as you qualify and depending on continued state fund allocations. Funding is capped at 15 hours per semester. Be a first-time incoming freshman enrolling full-time on-campus in the fall 2021 semester or later. Have a cumulative high school GPA of 2.75 or higher. Have an annual family income less than $125,200 with assets less than $50,000 based on your FAFSA.”

    Source

How we worked these out

The family

A family of four with good parent credit and $500 a month to put toward college, and the savings you pick. In state, the grants are what Southern Illinois University Carbondale reports families at that income got, on average. Your own will differ, and a family with no aid pays close to the full price. Out of state, there are no grants: the price is before any scholarship from the college.

What a SmartTuition plan saves

The difference, over four years, between a SmartTuition plan and the standard approach: savings first, then loans for the rest. It counts loan interest and the federal tax credit. For a family that lives in Illinois, it also counts Illinois' tax deduction for money you put through its 529 plan.

The $9,200 in the “Pay less for college” box near the top of this page is the median saving in Southern Illinois University Carbondale's own scenarios. Each scenario is a household that lives in Illinois, with an income from $45,000 to $200,000 and savings of none, $40,000 or $100,000 in a 529. We price Southern Illinois University Carbondale at the aid it reports for that income.

Every scenario has parents with good credit and $500 a month toward college. The card above uses the same two. A scenario where the parents would borrow more than $65,000 is left out.

The prices by income

  • They describe students who got aid.
  • “Over $110,000” has no upper limit, so it averages families just over $110,000 with far wealthier ones. A family at $115,000 should expect to pay less than it shows.
  • Each range is reported on its own, so the prices do not always rise with income.

Where the prices come from

Where the prices come from: Southern Illinois University-Carbondale's own 2026-27 tuition, fees, housing, food and books, from its website, carried forward to 2027 at 3.0% a year. The grants are the U.S. Department of Education's College Scorecard (2025-26 figures), carried forward the same way. Each price after grants is the cost less those grants. The out-of-state figure uses the published out-of-state tuition instead. The average price after grants counts the students who get federal aid. Your own figure will be different.

Southern Illinois University-Carbondale fixes tuition for four years for every class that starts in fall 2026 or later, under its Truth in Tuition guarantee. For students who start in fall 2027, our four-year figures keep that flat and let the rest of the cost rise.

SmartTuition.ai is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Southern Illinois University-Carbondale. Aid policies change; check current terms with the college's aid office.

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