Blackburn College

Private · Moderately Selective · IL

School data & stats

TypePrivate

LocationIL · Midwest

SettingRural

Undergrads471

Student:faculty11:1

Outcomes

4-yr grad rate50.3%

6-yr grad rate57.5%

Drop-out rate32.8%

Study abroad—

Cost

In-state tuition$28k

Out-of-state tuition$28k

Application fee—

Community

Racial diversity25%

Gender diversity58%

International0%

IdentityPresbyterian Church (USA)

Overview

Blackburn College is a small liberal-arts college in Carlinville, Illinois, distinguished nationally by its student-managed work program — one of a handful of federally recognized Work Colleges — where every residential student holds a campus job that helps run the institution and directly reduces the cost of attendance.

Academics

The work program is not a side job but an academic-adjacent institution: students staff the dining hall, maintenance, admissions office, and other campus functions, gaining direct management and operations experience alongside coursework. Education and business are among the more established majors, and class sizes stay small given the college's size.

Campus & student life

Carlinville is a small central-Illinois town, and campus life is inward-facing by necessity — the work program itself becomes a social structure, since students see the same peers in their work crews as in their classes and dorms. The tight labor-based community is often cited by students and alumni as the defining feature of attending Blackburn, more than any single academic program.

Getting in

Admission review is not highly selective, and the college is upfront that fit with the work program — a genuine willingness to hold down a real campus job throughout the year — matters as much as academic profile.

Worth knowing

The work requirement is not symbolic: students are expected to work a meaningful number of hours weekly on top of a full course load, and the tuition discount it provides is central to why many students choose Blackburn in the first place.

blackburn.edu ↗

Admissions

Acceptance rate63.2%

Enrolled mid-50%1080

Test policynot used

Rec letters0

Deadlines (2026–27 cycle)

Applying