Alma College
Private College in Alma, MI. Six-year graduation rate 63%. Median 10-year earnings $54,742.
Ten years after entry, the median Alma College student earns $54,742 — a solidly middle-of-the-pack result for an undergraduate institution. The six-year graduation rate is 63%, meaning about two in five students who start do not finish. Graduates leave owing a median of $27,000 — a substantial load to service on these earnings.
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
Admissions
Selectivity is real here: only 57% of applicants are offered a place. 5,208 applications came in, enough to make the rates below reasonably stable year to year. Yield is low at 10%, so most admitted students do not end up enrolling.
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 | — | — |
| SAT Math | — | |
| ACT Composite | — | — |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Alma College →Academics
Completion is middling: 63% finish inside six years. 85% of full-time first-years return for a second year — a healthy figure. Retention and graduation track closely, so most of the attrition shows up in the first year rather than after it. At 14:1, students get materially more instructor contact than at a typical public university. As a private nonprofit four-year college, the relevant comparison is other four-year schools rather than the national average across all institutions.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 1,227 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Net price lands at $22,094 a year on average, neither cheap nor punishing. The gap between the $0–30k and $110k+ bands is narrow ($17,162 versus $23,618), meaning aid is not strongly need-weighted. Grant aid is widespread — 92% of students receive it, averaging $39,873. 57% 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 · 346 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 | $17,162 |
| $30–48k | $18,009 |
| $48–75k | $18,076 |
| $75–110k | $18,699 |
| $110k+ | $23,618 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 699 of these 1,227 students, totalling $4,711,209 — an average of $6,740 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Gratiot County) — budget these against any cost-of-attendance housing estimate.
HUD Fair Market Rents (40th-percentile gross rent incl. utilities) · FY2026
Veterans & GI Bill
VA GI Bill Comparison Tool (Veterans Affairs GIDS)