
Tinley Park, ILprivate forprofitwww.foxcollege.edu/
Admit rate has ranged 50%–77% over the last 5 years — notably volatile. Source: IPEDS via Urban Institute.
Acceptance & SAT from Common Data Set / IPEDS; net price, earnings & graduation from the U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard. Figures lag ~1–2 years — verify with the school.
Fox College in Tinley Park, Illinois, is a small, career-focused institution where the path from the classroom to a paycheck is short, direct, and pragmatic. With a handful of concentrated majors—primarily in healthcare and business—it operates more like a professional training ground than a traditional liberal arts college, boasting a remarkably low average net price and a graduation rate that punches well above the national average for two-year schools. This is a place for students who know exactly what job they want and are looking for an efficient, no-frills route to get there.
Test-blind — scores not considered
Source: IPEDS Admissions survey (2022) via Urban Institute. Covers formal factors only — it does not reflect essays, extracurriculars, or other holistic criteria.
More details
Outcomes & value
Earnings = median of students working ~10 years after entry; debt = median of graduates. Value divides 10-yr earnings by one year’s net price — read it as earnings per dollar of annual cost, not a full lifetime ROI; it favors lower-cost schools. Source: U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard. Figures lag ~2 years and reflect all students, not your intended major.
U.S. Dept. of Education Financial Responsibility Composite Score (FY2022-23). Scale −1.0 to 3.0; ≥1.5 meets the standard. Reported for private nonprofit & for-profit institutions only — public universities are state-backed and not scored, so this is a stability signal, not a ranking.
Campus & location
On-campus criminal offenses classed as violent (murder/non-negligent manslaughter, rape, robbery, aggravated assault) for the most recent reported year. Source: U.S. Dept. of Education Campus Safety and Security (Clery Act). Counts reflect what’s reported to the school, and urban campuses often report more partly due to non-student incidents nearby — read alongside campus size and setting, not as a standalone safety verdict.
Pleasant days counts days per year with a mean temperature of 55–75°F, a high at or below 90°F, a low at or above 45°F, and little precipitation — a transparent comfort measure, not a weighting we invented. Computed from Open-Meteo ERA5 daily history (2019–2023). Natural-hazard risk is the county’s composite rating from the FEMA National Risk Index.
Institutional research volume and impact from OpenAlex. The h-index reflects large research universities and will be low for teaching-focused liberal-arts colleges — not a measure of undergraduate quality.
Mobility rate = the share of students who both start in the bottom household-income quintile and reach the top quintile; bottom → top is that chance conditional on starting at the bottom. Source: Opportunity Insights Mobility Report Cards (Chetty, Friedman, Saez, Turner & Yagan). Reflects 1980–82 birth cohorts, so it’s directional, not current.
Admissions at Fox College are described as "somewhat competitive," with the institution accepting a clear majority of its applicants. The is 70%, a figure that aligns it more with accessible, open-enrollment models than with highly selective universities. The process appears to be standard, with no available source data suggesting the use of binding Early Decision plans or a policy that considers demonstrated interest as a formal factor in evaluation. The student body is small, with one source noting a recent incoming class of just 27 enrolled students from 49 admitted out of 64 total applicants, underscoring the institution's intimate scale.
Academic life at Fox College is defined by its narrow, career-oriented focus. The college offers only six distinct undergraduate degrees, concentrated into just four majors. The vast majority of its degrees—100%—are awarded at the associate level, indicating its primary role as a two-year institution. Programs are designed to prepare students for immediate careers in sectors like healthcare, business, and technology. This hyper-focused approach is reflected in a very low student-to-faculty ratio of 10:1, which promises personalized attention and direct access to instructors, a significant advantage for hands-on, skills-based learning.
Details on the specific campus culture and extracurricular offerings at Fox College are sparse in the provided sources, which instead reference student life pages for other institutions with "Fox" in their name (like George Fox University or Fox Valley Technical College). This absence of concrete information suggests that the student experience is likely centered on academics and career preparation rather than a traditional residential college atmosphere with a wide array of clubs, Greek life, or major campus events. The intimate size, with a 10:1 student-faculty ratio, implies a close-knit, if academically focused, community.
Outcomes are where Fox College makes its most compelling case. Its graduation rate of 71% is notably high, more than double the reported midpoint (35%) for two-year colleges. This suggests a strong institutional support system that helps students persist and complete their programs. For graduates, the median earnings ten years after entry are $41,539. Earlier career earnings are lower, with averages around $29,300-$30,300 six to eight years after entry, rising to $35,700 after nine years, indicating a salary trajectory that grows with workforce experience. These figures present a realistic picture of early-to-mid-career earnings for graduates of career-focused associate degree programs.
Affordability is a cornerstone of the Fox College proposition. The average —what students pay after grants and scholarships—is strikingly low. One authoritative source lists it as $13,109, while others cite figures in the $9,500-$9,800 range. This places the cost well below the national average for both two-year and four-year institutions. A significant majority (67%) of full-time, first-time students receive grant or scholarship aid, which does not need to be repaid. The college provides a net price calculator on its website to help families estimate their actual cost, and while the sources do not indicate a "no-loan" policy or a guarantee to meet 100% of demonstrated need, the low net price itself is a powerful form of financial accessibility.
Fox College stands out as a starkly efficient and pragmatic alternative to the traditional college experience. It forgoes expansive campuses and broad liberal arts curricula for a laser focus on direct career preparation in a handful of fields. This model yields tangible results: a graduation rate that more than doubles the two-year college average and a that makes career training genuinely accessible. It’s not a university for exploration or a classic "college life" experience; it’s a focused, high-value pipeline for students who have a clear vocational target. The combination of a 10:1 student-faculty ratio, a 71% graduation rate, and a net price often under $10,000 creates a compelling value proposition for students seeking a fast, affordable, and effective track into the workforce.