Southern Illinois University Carbondale

SIU Carbondale is a public research university in southern Illinois. Its most valuable feature for a Kazakh applicant is a statutory four-year tuition lock, not an institutional promise but a state law: 'Undergraduate students who enter SIU Fall 2004 or later are guaranteed the same tuition rate for four continuous academic years by the Illinois Truth in Tuition Bill (Public Act 93-0228).' Because it is legislation rather than policy, it cannot be withdrawn by the university, and it should extend to the University of Illinois Chicago on the same basis. SIU's English floor is low at TOEFL 68 or IELTS 6.0, with holistic review below that and conditional admission through its own Center for English as a Second Language. Its published budget assumes 15 credit hours a semester rather than the 12-credit minimum, so the figures are realistic rather than optimistic.