Bowling Green
State University-Main Campus
Public Research University in Bowling Green, OH. Six-year graduation rate 64%. Median 10-year earnings $47,896.
Ten years after entry, the median Bowling Green State University-Main Campus student earns $47,896 — a solidly middle-of-the-pack result for an undergraduate institution. The six-year graduation rate is 64%, meaning about one in three students who start do not finish. Debt at graduation runs to a median of $25,000, 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
- ! Mobility score 0.7 — limited economic uplift documented
Admissions
An acceptance rate of 81% puts Bowling Green State University-Main Campus on the accessible end — a realistic target for a broad range of applicants. With 21,153 applications received, this is a school operating at national scale. Yield sits at 21% — the remainder of admitted students enroll elsewhere or not at all. Read the score bands below narrowly: only 21% 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 | 500–610 | 730 (21%) |
| SAT Math | 500–600 | |
| ACT Composite | 19–26 | 2,146 (61%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Bowling Green State University-Main Campus →Academics
Completion is middling: 64% finish inside six years. First-year retention of 82% shows the cohort holds together through the hardest year. Retention and graduation track closely, so most of the attrition shows up in the first year rather than after it. Transfer-out runs to 21% — common enough at this school that the completion rate is measuring a smaller group than the entering class. Part-time students fare worse, returning at 50% — relevant if you plan to work while enrolled.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 12,255 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Students pay an average of $24,283 annually once grants are applied. The income table below is the number that matters — $18,396 at $0–30k versus $27,414 at $110k+. Grant aid reaches 80% of students at an average of $10,076. 55% 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 · 3,098 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 | $18,396 |
| $30–48k | $18,547 |
| $48–75k | $21,820 |
| $75–110k | $25,741 |
| $110k+ | $27,414 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 6,707 of these 12,255 students, totalling $42,620,673 — an average of $6,355 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Wood 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)