William Rainey Harper College
Top Ranked (2021-22): View Rankings
Tel:
(847) 925-6000
- Harper College (also William Rainey Harper College) is a two-year community college in Palatine, Illinois. The college was established by referendum in 1965, and in 1971 Harper's construction was finished, the first community college to be completed in Illinois. It is named for William Rainey Harper, a pioneer in the junior college movement in the United States and the first president of the University of Chicago.
School Highlights
William Rainey Harper College serves 13,530 students (34% of students are full-time).
The college's student:teacher ratio of 34:1 is higher than the state community college average of 29:1.
Minority enrollment is 50% of the student body (majority Hispanic), which is less than the state average of 52%.
Top Rankings
William Rainey Harper College ranks among the top 20% of community colleges in Illinois for:
- Category Attribute
- Diversity Diversity in US community colleges
- Community Size Largest student body
- Student Earnings Highest graduate earnings (10 years post graduation)
School Overview
The teacher population of 402 teachers has stayed relatively flat over five years.
| William Rainey Harper College | (IL) Community College Avg. | |
| Carnegie Classification | Associate's Colleges: High Transfer-High Nontraditional | Associate's Colleges: Mixed Transfer/Vocational & Technical-High Nontraditional |
| Institution Level | At least 2 but less than 4 years | At least 2 but less than 4 years |
| Institution Control | Public | Public |
| Total Faculty | 402 staff | 124 staff |
Source: 2019 (or latest year available) IPEDS
School Notes
- Harper College (also William Rainey Harper College) is a two-year community college in Palatine, Illinois. The college was established by referendum in 1965, and in 1971 Harper's construction was finished, the first community college to be completed in Illinois. It is named for William Rainey Harper, a pioneer in the junior college movement in the United States and the first president of the University of Chicago. We offer a full range of credit and non-credit courses, career training opportunities and continuing education options for professional development and personal enrichment as well as academic transfer programs. Our faculty is among the best. And because, like William Rainey Harper himself, we believe that higher education should be accessible to all, we offer a flexible schedule of daytime, nighttime and weekend classes at our main campus and at several other sites conveniently located throughout our service area. Avanté, Center for Science, Health Careers and Emerging Technologies is a state-of-the-art learning center for Harper College's nationally acclaimed programs in health, science and computer technology. The Center occupies 292,926 square feet of space, or six and one half acres. Avanté houses 10 major academic programs including nursing, dental hygiene, medical imaging, cardiac care, electronics, computer science, biology and chemistry. The name Avanté implies “advancement” or “moving forward,” while the Center itself creates an inspiring environment to advance teaching and learning in the sciences, technology and health care for current and future generations. It contains 400 rooms.
Nearby Schools
The nearest community college to William Rainey Harper College is Worsham College of Mortuary Science (8.7 miles away).
- College Location Mi. Students
- Worsham College of Mortuary SciencePrivate for-profit95 students | 8.70 Mi495 Northgate Pkwy
Wheeling, IL 60090
(847) 808-8444 8.7095 - Oakton Community CollegePublic8,454 students | 9.90 Mi1600 E Golf Rd.
Des Plaines, IL 60016
(847) 635-1600 9.908,454 - Elgin Community CollegePublic9,567 students | 13.60 Mi1700 Spartan Drive
Elgin, IL 60123
(847) 697-1000 13.609,567 - Triton CollegePublic10,529 students | 16.40 Mi2000 5th Ave
River Grove, IL 60171
(708) 456-0300 16.4010,529 - College of DuPagePublic24,900 students | 16.50 Mi425 Fawell Blvd.
Glen Ellyn, IL 60137
(630) 942-2800 16.5024,900
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