[3] Uni's two primary sources of funding are private donations and the statewide per-pupil distribution financed in the Illinois state budget.

An experimental math course on was taught in the early 2000s and teachers continue to experiment in small, creative, ways.

Admission decisions are based on previous academic history, extracurriculars, teacher recommendations, a personal statement, and a timed writing sample.

Whether immediately after graduation, the vast majority of students go on to enter a four-year college or university, although some choose to defer a year to study abroad, volunteer, or work.

[13] Members of that team included Thomas Krause, Robert Sah, Mark Zvilius, Jonathan Atkin, and Steven Schran.

The program was started as a club in 2013 by Bruce Li and members of the Class of 2015, who then secured sponsorship from the school's administration to begin competing as a team in the 2013-2014 season.

[18] Tim Cho (class of 2019), member and leader of the Scholastic Bowl team, competed on Teen Jeopardy in 2018 and returned for the Reunion Tournament in 2023.

[28] Before the Winter Party, the madrigals typically lead students through the halls, out of their last final exam, with candles and singing.

Chicken Award, sponsored by the graduating class of 1972, is meant to recognize "spontaneous creativity," "unbidden originality," and "extraordinary acts in ordinary circumstances."

[39] Previous winners have included a series of promotional posters for the 50 states in the first floor restrooms,[40] the staging of the American Revolution in comic strip form,[41] and a Gilbert and Sullivan-style adaptation of Shakespeare's Macbeth.

[43] In recent years, the multiple events of X-Week have been discarded in favor of a joint X-Dinner leading up to Big Show.

The Senior Project was developed in 2014 by Assistant Director of Student Life Karl Radnitzer, who got the idea from a similar program at New Trier High School in Winnetka, Illinois.

[44] Students have worked in various labs at the University of Illinois, at the Crisis Nursery, at Carle Hospital, and at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts.

[45] Every year, the subfreshman social studies class spends part of the second semester working on an oral history project.

Past topics have included inside views of the military, people with disabilities, counterculture, the right to marry, and affirmative action in education.

A group of older students, called WILL Interns, work with the interview material produced by the subfreshmen and turn it into an hour-long documentary published on the WILL Illinois Youth Media page.

[50] Throughout the year, subbie buddies host events for the subfreshmen which, in the past, have included a tri-holiday party,[51] dodgeball games,[52] and a corn maze.

[56] In October, Sprabitat holds a haunted house in Kenney Gym where students decorate a locker room and dress up as an array of scary characters.

Students waiting to go through the haunted house can participate in a variety of events in the gymnasium and buy tickets to enter a raffle.

The losing streak started in February 1974 and finally ended in November 1979 when they beat Tri-Valley High school with a score of 46-40.

In 2019, Donnini and Arjun Tangella achieved a second consecutive sectional championship for the team, defeating Centennial High School 4-6, 6-1, 6-2.

Subbiah retired as the winningest player in Uni High History, collecting 74 varsity wins in his four years on the team.

Donnini and Jagroop finished third in the IHSA sectional tournament after a semi-final loss to Central High School in the semifinals.

The duo defeated (#5) Mount Zion 6-4, 6-4 to qualify for the quarter-finals and subsequently beat (#12) Vernon Grove 6-2, 6-0 to make the semi-finals.

[76] Though the school does not have an official badminton team, Andrea Li (class of 2024) won the IHSA state title in 2022 after a second-place finish in 2021.

[88] The building that houses University Laboratory High School was built from 1917 through 1918 and was designed by Holabird & Roche in the Late Gothic Revival style, with James M. White as the supervising architect.

[89] When the building was completed, it was almost immediately converted into a general hospital for the Students’ Army Training Corps and School of Military Aeronautics for the duration of World War I.

[60][94] Because of piping below the 100-year-old hardwood, the floors have warped, creating dead spots where balls do not bounce correctly and a safety hazard for students.

[108] As an effort to correct this error, (now former) director Jeff Walkington assembled a Strategic Vision Task Force to improve to Uni's budget model.

Proposed solutions included charging tuition, making Uni into a charter school, and requesting more funding from the office of the provost at UIUC.