here are the detail for in-state tuition in Illinois.

http://dreamact.info/students/in-state/illinois

I am from Miami, and have been going to school in Chicago for 3 years now, I think that the city of Chicago is far far better then the heavily hispanic city I come from, a million times better. I would actually suggest against getting a car, the public transportation system in the city of Chicago is very thorough and I have seldom seen a bus arrive late to a bus stop, even very late at night or early in the morning (cannot say the same for Miami). Furthermore, they do a lot of street cleaning, about twice per week, and they do a poor job in letting people know where they are going to be cleaning the result is that I do not know anyone that drives and has not received a ticket as a result, mostly because they are new to the city. Parking is rare in the city and the cost to park can be severe.

There is one very peculiar aspect to this city that I had not experienced before, instead of a melting pot society, it seems as if people choose live in groups based on cultural and racial background. You have heavily Chinese areas, as well as heavily hispanic areas, heavily italian areas and heavily russian areas, among others. I think this particular fact might make finding a job easier in Chicago then a melting pot society where under our predicament it might be harder to determine where it would be safe to ask for work.

There has been, and i read the paper a lot, issues with employers taking advantage of undocumented employees and not paying them for the time that they work, but its also promising to see those issues in the newspaper with actual solutions and lawyers representing those people and making the employers accountable, rather then that issue becoming a truth that is kept under the table where nothing could be done about that.

Here is the thing, if you are from a more immigrant friendly city you do not know what someone goes through in a city that has laws similar or worse then the Arizona law, like my city just enacted, I am now hearing of police stopping people at random in the street with the purpose of asking for status documentation, and Miami has had many issues with ICE closing roads to stop and inspect the documentation of drivers, or closing down a public building such as a bank and checking everyone, or going to workplaces. I come home to miami to stay indoors almost exclusively because there is a curfew in place for people under 18 and showing them a foreign ID might put me at risk if I am out after certain times, while in Chicago, its not uncommon for me to be out and around at 1-2 am after a very heavy study session in the school library.