Moraine Valley Community College
Rolling
Acceptance rate
$10,296
Tuition/yr
13,000
Enrollment
About Moraine Valley Community College
Community college in Illinois near Chicago. Strong transfer and workforce programs.
Moraine Valley Community College is a public two-year institution founded in 1967 in Palos Hills, Illinois, about 20 miles southwest of Chicago. Enrolling over 19,000 students across a 307-acre campus, it is one of the largest community colleges in Illinois by headcount and offers more than 140 degree and certificate programs.
The college has particular strengths in cybersecurity: it hosts the Center for Systems Security and Information Assurance (CSSIA), a National Science Foundation-funded national resource center, and holds a National Security Agency designation as a Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense. Programs also span business, health sciences, engineering technology, liberal arts, and a range of career-technical fields. Average class size is 17 students.
Moraine Valley's main campus includes a 113,000-square-foot Health, Fitness and Recreation Center and a reconstructed 40-acre tallgrass prairie. The college maintains more than 30 articulation agreements with Illinois four-year universities, including Northern Illinois University and Illinois State University, under which an associate degree from MVCC satisfies lower-division general education requirements and grants junior standing upon transfer.
Campus & Location
IL
Suburban
Optional Practical Training (OPT)
All graduates qualify for 12-month OPT. STEM-designated programs (CS, Engineering, Data Science, Mathematics, Sciences) qualify for 24-month STEM OPT extension — 36 months total work authorisation.
For Nepali students
- Tuition for international (out-of-state/foreign) students runs approximately $429 per credit hour including fees as of Fall 2026, working out to roughly $10,300 per academic year for a full-time 24-credit load, significantly lower than most US four-year universities, making it a cost-effective entry point into American higher education.
- Completing an associate degree at MVCC and then transferring to a partner four-year university under Illinois Articulation Initiative agreements is a well-established pathway; Nepali students can obtain a bachelor's degree in the US at a fraction of the cost by spending the first two years at MVCC.
- F-1 student visa holders are fully supported by the college's International Student Affairs office (operating since 1989), and students from 48+ countries are already enrolled, providing an established international community on campus.
- Graduates who continue to a four-year US bachelor's program become eligible for Optional Practical Training (OPT) and, for STEM fields such as cybersecurity or engineering technology, 24-month OPT extensions, giving Nepali students a direct route to US work experience after completing a bachelor's degree.
Admission requirements — Nepali equivalents
A rough translation of the published minimums for Nepali applicants:
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