Austin Peay
State University
Public College in Clarksville, TN. Six-year graduation rate 44%. Median 10-year earnings $44,301.
Students who entered Austin Peay State University land at a median of $44,301 a decade later, close to what most four-year schools deliver. 44% finish within six years — respectable, though a meaningful share still leave without a credential. Median debt at graduation is $20,547, roughly typical for an undergraduate 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
Admissions
With an acceptance rate of 96%, Austin Peay State University takes nearly everyone who applies. The applicant pool runs to 6,331, typical for a school of this reach. 28% of those admitted enroll, which is unremarkable in either direction. 1% 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 | 445–573 | 20 (1%) |
| SAT Math | 398–553 | |
| ACT Composite | 18–24 | 867 (52%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Austin Peay State University →Academics
44% graduate within six years — average, but that average still hides a large group who do not. Retention of 70% means a meaningful slice of each entering class does not return. That gap between coming back and finishing is where this school loses people — after the first year, not during it. The part-time picture is harder: 34% return, against 70% full-time. The 14:1 student-faculty ratio is small enough that seminar-sized classes are the norm.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 7,365 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Students pay an average of $9,882 annually, well below typical undergraduate net price. The gap between the $0–30k and $110k+ bands is narrow ($7,588 versus $15,078), meaning aid is not strongly need-weighted. 89% of students get grant aid averaging $11,076, so the published price is a poor guide to what most pay. Federal borrowing reaches 40% of students.
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 · 1,444 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 | $7,588 |
| $30–48k | $8,768 |
| $48–75k | $10,077 |
| $75–110k | $13,537 |
| $110k+ | $15,078 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 2,923 of these 7,365 students, totalling $19,063,674 — an average of $6,522 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