Alvernia University
Private College in Reading, PA. Six-year graduation rate 56%. Median 10-year earnings $55,055.
Ten years after entry, the median Alvernia University student earns $55,055 — a solidly middle-of-the-pack result for an undergraduate institution. The six-year graduation rate is 56%, meaning about two in five students who start do not finish. Debt is the pressure point: a median of $27,000 at graduation. Mobility is where this school separates itself: 2.2% of students move from the bottom income quintile to the top.
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
Alvernia University admits 58% of applicants and is genuinely selective — roughly two in five applicants are turned away. 5,715 students applied in the most recent cycle — a mid-sized pool drawn mostly from the surrounding region. Only 13% of admitted students enroll — the great majority of admits go elsewhere or nowhere. 6% of enrolled first-years submitted an SAT score. The bands below describe the middle half of that group, not of the class.
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 | 570–658 | 26 (6%) |
| SAT Math | 523–628 | |
| ACT Composite | — | — |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Alvernia University →Academics
Completion is middling: 56% finish inside six years. 72% of full-time first-years come back for year two, so about one in four are gone before sophomore year. Retention and graduation track closely, so most of the attrition shows up in the first year rather than after it. The 33% transfer-out rate is high enough that a large share of this school's students are really passing through. A 14:1 ratio points to small classes and accessible faculty.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 2,042 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Students pay $28,645 a year on average after aid, a premium price that the earnings data has to justify. Net price swings hard on family income here, from $23,436 at the $0–30k band to $32,152 at $110k+. Most students get help: 87% receive grants worth $24,730 on average. Borrowing is widespread: 83% take federal loans.
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 · 414 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 | $23,436 |
| $30–48k | $23,701 |
| $48–75k | $24,131 |
| $75–110k | $28,016 |
| $110k+ | $32,152 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 1,692 of these 2,042 students, totalling $10,161,656 — an average of $6,006 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Berks 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)