Alabama State University
Public College in Montgomery, AL. Six-year graduation rate 30%. Median 10-year earnings $34,502.
Students who entered Alabama State University reach a median of $34,502 a decade later, a figure that trails the typical four-year outcome. Completion is the weak point: 30% graduate within six years. Median debt at graduation reaches $31,000, heavy enough to shape the years right after the degree.
Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
- ! Debt-to-income ratio 0.90 — elevated (above 0.60)
- ! Graduation rate 30% — below national average
Admissions
With an acceptance rate of 98%, Alabama State University takes nearly everyone who applies. 7,229 applications came in, enough to make the rates below reasonably stable year to year. Yield is low at 15%, so most admitted students do not end up enrolling. Read the score bands below narrowly: only 1% of enrolled first-years submitted an SAT score, and test-optional applicants are not represented in them.
Test score bands (middle 50% of submitters)
These bands describe the enrolled first-years who submitted a score, not the entering class. Where most students apply test-optional the submitters are a self-selected, higher-scoring group.
| Test | 25th–75th percentile | Submitted |
|---|---|---|
| SAT Evidence-Based Reading | 399–505 | 11 (1%) |
| SAT Math | 350–462 | |
| ACT Composite | 15–20 | 356 (34%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Alabama State University →Academics
Completion is the problem here: 30% graduate within six years. 70% of full-time first-years come back for year two, so about one in three are gone before sophomore year. Retention runs well ahead of completion, which means students are not leaving immediately; they are leaving somewhere between the second year and the finish line. With 35% transferring out, this functions substantially as a stepping stone. The part-time picture is harder: 21% return, against 70% full-time.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 3,322 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Average net price is $13,138 a year after grant aid — low for a four-year institution, though your own figure depends on aid eligibility. Income makes less difference than usual: $19,711 at $0–30k, $19,031 at $110k+. Most students get help: 96% receive grants worth $10,569 on average. 74% of students borrow federally, so debt is the norm rather than the exception.
Entering first-year students
A different, smaller group than the rates above: full-time students in their first year of college anywhere. The grant series here also excludes the "other sources" counted in the all-undergraduate figure, so the two are not comparable.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · 909 students
Net price by family income
The same students as the headline above, limited to those who received Title IV federal aid — a narrower group, with a lower overall average. IPEDS publishes no combined figure across these bands, so they should not be averaged into one.
| Family income band | Average net price |
|---|---|
| $0–30k | $19,711 |
| $30–48k | $21,682 |
| $48–75k | $21,508 |
| $75–110k | $21,608 |
| $110k+ | $19,031 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 2,465 of these 3,322 students, totalling $20,243,168 — an average of $8,212 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Montgomery County) — budget these against any cost-of-attendance housing estimate.
HUD Fair Market Rents (40th-percentile gross rent incl. utilities) · FY2026
Veterans & GI Bill
Heightened Cash Monitoring (Audit - Severe Findings); School placed on Heightened Cash Monitoring
VA GI Bill Comparison Tool (Veterans Affairs GIDS)