CDL SCHOOLS IN ILLINOIS — Federal Data, September 2026
CDL Schools in Illinois, Ranked On What Graduates Owe And Earn
4 accredited institutions in Illinois report enough federal data on this program to be compared. They are ranked here on a single measure: how many months of gross pay it takes a graduate to cover the median debt.
See The RankingU.S. Department of Education data. No school paid to be listed.
Across the 4 ranked programs in Illinois, the median graduate needs 1.7 months of gross pay to cover a median federal debt of $5,916, against median earnings of $42,688 one year after completion.
That is faster than the national median of 2.0 months for this field, measured across the 87 institutions in our national CDL schools ranking. The best performer in the state is Elgin Community College in Elgin, at 0.9 months.
Every figure on this page is recalculated on Illinois institutions only. Nothing is carried over from the national page.
At A Glance
What the federal data says about CDL schools in Illinois
The Ranking
4 CDL schools in Illinois, ranked by months of gross pay to cover the debt
Lower is better.
| # | School | Type | Award | Months | Debt | Earnings | Completion |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Elgin Community CollegeElgin, IL | Public | Certificate | 0.9 | $4,008 | $51,945 | 41% |
| 2 | Lincoln Land Community CollegeSpringfield, IL | Public | Certificate | 1.3 | $5,500 | $49,142 | 48% |
| 3 | Midwest Technical Institute-IllinoisSpringfield, IL | for-profit | Certificate | 2.1 | $6,333 | $36,234 | 69% |
| 4 | City Colleges of Chicago-Olive-Harvey CollegeChicago, IL | Public | Certificate | 5.1 | $10,434 | $24,356 | 21% |
Source: U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard, Most Recent Cohorts by Field of Study and by Institution (published 9 June 2026). Debt is the median federal Stafford and Grad PLUS loan debt of completers in this program; earnings are median earnings one year after completion. Where a school offers the program at both certificate and associate level, the shorter payback is shown. Completion is the institution’s published rate, not the program’s.
The Top Five, In Detail
The five fastest payback programs in Illinois, one by one
Elgin Community College
Elgin, IL
Elgin Community College is a public institution in Elgin. Its truck driving graduates leave with a median federal debt of $4,008 and report median earnings of $51,945 a year after completing, so the debt is covered by 0.9 months of gross pay: the fastest payback in the state, and 0.8 months faster than the Illinois state median of 1.7. The award measured here is a certificate. The institution reports a 41% completion rate.
Lincoln Land Community College
Springfield, IL
Lincoln Land Community College is a public institution in Springfield. Its truck driving graduates leave with a median federal debt of $5,500 and report median earnings of $49,142 a year after completing, so the debt is covered by 1.3 months of gross pay: the second fastest in the state, and 0.4 months faster than the Illinois state median of 1.7. The award measured here is a certificate. The institution reports a 48% completion rate.
Midwest Technical Institute-Illinois
Springfield, IL
Midwest Technical Institute-Illinois is a private for-profit institution in Springfield. Its truck driving graduates leave with a median federal debt of $6,333 and report median earnings of $36,234 a year after completing, so the debt is covered by 2.1 months of gross pay: the third fastest in the state, and 0.4 months slower than the Illinois state median of 1.7. The award measured here is a certificate. The institution reports a 69% completion rate.
City Colleges of Chicago-Olive-Harvey College
Chicago, IL
City Colleges of Chicago-Olive-Harvey College is a public institution in Chicago. Its truck driving graduates leave with a median federal debt of $10,434 and report median earnings of $24,356 a year after completing, so the debt is covered by 5.1 months of gross pay: fourth in the state, and 3.4 months slower than the Illinois state median of 1.7. The award measured here is a certificate. The institution reports a 21% completion rate.
Read It Carefully
What this ranking does not measure
With only 4 institutions publishable here, this page is a short list by construction. It is not a directory of every school in Illinois: many programs, especially at institutions that do not take federal student aid, never appear in this data at all.
Absence from this page is not a verdict. The Department of Education suppresses figures for programs with small cohorts, so a small, excellent school will often have no publishable data at all. Schools that enroll no students on federal aid are outside this dataset entirely.
The measure is a ratio, not a repayment plan, and it counts federal loan debt only. Cash payments, private loans and employer sponsorship are invisible here. Local wages shape earnings as much as the school does, which is exactly why comparing inside one state, as this page does, is more informative than comparing across the country.
Other States
The same program, another state
Other Programs in Illinois
Comparing a different trade in Illinois
For ILLINOIS School Operators
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