Beckman attended the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign beginning in the fall of 1918. During his freshman year, he worked with Carl Shipp Marvel on the synthesis of organic mercury compounds, but both men became ill from exposure to toxic mercury. As a result, Beckman changed his major from organic chemistry to physical chemistry, where he worked with Worth Rodebush, T. A. White, and Gerhard Dietrichson. He earned his bachelor's degree in chemical engineering in 1922 and his master's degree in physical chemistry in 1923. For his master's degree he studied the thermodynamics of aqueous ammonia solutions, a subject introduced to him by T. A. White.