Other specializations are developed by students and their advisers. Research Facilities Research facilities located in the College include the Bureau of Educational Research, the Center for the Study of Reading, the ERIC Clearinghouse for Elementary and Early Childhood Education, the National Center on Research in Vocational Education, the Transition Alliance Institute, the Office of School-University Research Relations, and the Teaching Teleapprenticeship Office. The University also has the third largest academic library in the nation, and the Education and Social Science Library is one of the finest in the world. Financial Aid Fellowships, tuition and service fee waivers, and teaching and research assistantships are available for graduate students, with more than 50 percent of graduate students in education receiving assistance for fall 1999. Competitions for most awards take place in March, with applications due on February 15.
Students apply directly to the departments for financial aid.
The University maintains two residence halls for graduate students, Daniels Hall and Sherman Hall. Other campus and private housing is also readily available for students at a very reasonable cost. The University has approximately 7,300 graduate and professional students, with 880 registered as College of Education students for fall 1999. The College has a 90-100 percent placement rate for their graduate students. Its 200 major buildings cover a 1,470-acre area in the heart of the central Illinois prairie land.