Bethel University
Private College in Saint Paul, MN. Six-year graduation rate 71%. Median 10-year earnings $63,764.
A decade after enrolling, the median Bethel University student earns $63,764 — comfortably above what the typical bachelor's-granting institution returns. 71% graduate within six years, so most students who start here finish here. Median debt at graduation is $21,500, 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.
- ✓ Debt-to-income ratio 0.34 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
- ! Mobility score 0.5 — limited economic uplift documented
Admissions
Bethel University admits 88% of applicants — effectively open admission, so the application is a formality rather than a hurdle. 1,754 applications came in, enough to make the rates below reasonably stable year to year. Yield sits at 27% — the remainder of admitted students enroll elsewhere or not at all. Read the score bands below narrowly: only 2% 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 | 610–650 | 9 (2%) |
| SAT Math | 580–650 | |
| ACT Composite | 22–28 | 120 (29%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Bethel University →Academics
71% of students finish within six years, putting completion well above the national norm. 86% 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. The 14:1 student-faculty ratio is small enough that seminar-sized classes are the norm. 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 1,996 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Students pay $31,738 a year on average after aid, a premium price that the earnings data has to justify. Aid is steeply need-based: families in the $0–30k band pay $22,218 while those at $110k+ pay $33,155. 93% of students get grant aid averaging $24,830, so the published price is a poor guide to what most pay. Borrowing is widespread: 58% 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 · 427 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 | $22,218 |
| $30–48k | $22,279 |
| $48–75k | $20,071 |
| $75–110k | $24,963 |
| $110k+ | $33,155 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 1,153 of these 1,996 students, totalling $7,554,370 — an average of $6,552 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Ramsey 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)