Bemidji State University
Public College in Bemidji, MN. Six-year graduation rate 48%. Median 10-year earnings $53,755.
Students who entered Bemidji State University land at a median of $53,755 a decade later, close to what most four-year schools deliver. 48% finish within six years — respectable, though a meaningful share still leave without a credential. Debt at graduation runs to a median of $19,750, neither a bargain nor a burden.
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
At 56%, the acceptance rate makes Bemidji State University a school worth applying to with alternatives in hand. 3,812 students applied in the most recent cycle — a mid-sized pool drawn mostly from the surrounding region. 24% of those admitted enroll, which is unremarkable in either direction. Read the score bands below narrowly: only 43% of enrolled first-years submitted an ACT 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 | — | 1 (1%) |
| SAT Math | — | |
| ACT Composite | 18–24 | 220 (43%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Bemidji State University →Academics
Completion is middling: 48% finish inside six years. Retention of 73% means a meaningful slice of each entering class does not return. The distance between those two figures is the part worth noticing — students return for a second year at a much higher rate than they graduate, so attrition here is spread across the middle years rather than concentrated in the first. With 31% transferring out, this functions substantially as a stepping stone. Retention drops to 29% for part-time students, a gap worth weighing if full-time study is not realistic.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 3,120 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Students pay an average of $14,859 annually, well below typical undergraduate net price. The income table below is the number that matters — $10,073 at $0–30k versus $19,940 at $110k+. About 70% get grants averaging $7,975, so plan on the possibility of paying closer to full price. 49% of students take federal loans, a middling borrowing rate.
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 · 461 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 | $10,073 |
| $30–48k | $10,207 |
| $48–75k | $12,201 |
| $75–110k | $15,857 |
| $110k+ | $19,940 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 1,522 of these 3,120 students, totalling $10,106,720 — an average of $6,640 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Beltrami 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)