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Private College

Bradley University

Private College in Peoria, IL. Six-year graduation rate 76%. Median 10-year earnings $66,852.

Verdict Mixed outcomes
Bradley University · Campus
Median earnings · 10 yr
$66,852
Median debt at grad
$27,000
Mobility score
1.2
% bottom→top quintile
Graduation rate
76.2%
Federal loan default
0%

Ten-year median earnings of $66,852 are the headline number here, and they are strong ones. The six-year graduation rate of 76% is well above average and the clearest sign this school holds onto its students. Median debt at graduation reaches $27,000, heavy enough to shape the years right after the degree.

Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.

Green Flags
  • Graduation rate 76% — well above the national average
  • 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Red Flags

Admissions

Acceptance rate
77%
Applicants
9,458
Yield rate
11.2%

77% of applicants get in, so the odds favor most reasonably prepared students. 9,458 applications came in, enough to make the rates below reasonably stable year to year. Only 11% of admitted students enroll — the great majority of admits go elsewhere or nowhere.

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
SAT Math
ACT Composite

IPEDS Admissions · 2024

Apply at Bradley University →

Academics

Full-time retention
83%
Transfer-out rate
0%
Student:faculty
11:1

76% of students finish within six years, putting completion well above the national norm. 83% of full-time first-years return for a second year — a healthy figure. The 11:1 student-faculty ratio is small enough that seminar-sized classes are the norm. Judge these figures against other institutions of the same type — sector explains more of the variation in completion than any single campus factor. 3,883 undergraduates makes this a mid-sized institution.

Financial Aid

Average net price
$23,787
Full-time, first-time undergraduates paying the in-state rate who were awarded grant or scholarship aid
% receiving grants
98%
degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
% receiving federal loans
64%
degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates

IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 3,865 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates

Students pay an average of $23,787 annually once grants are applied. Aid is steeply need-based: families in the $0–30k band pay $17,269 while those at $110k+ pay $30,008. 98% of students get grant aid averaging $27,318, so the published price is a poor guide to what most pay. Borrowing is widespread: 64% 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.

% receiving grants
100%
Average grant
$30,808

IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · 830 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 $17,269
$30–48k $16,539
$48–75k $18,609
$75–110k $22,954
$110k+ $30,008

IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24

Federal student loans went to 2,462 of these 3,865 students, totalling $16,071,485 — an average of $6,528 each.

IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24

Local housing costs

Typical rents near campus (Peoria County) — budget these against any cost-of-attendance housing estimate.

Studio
$758/mo
1 bedroom
$818/mo
2 bedroom (whole unit)
$1,039/mo

HUD Fair Market Rents (40th-percentile gross rent incl. utilities) · FY2026

Veterans & GI Bill

GI Bill students
83
Yellow Ribbon
Yes
Principles of Excellence
No

VA GI Bill Comparison Tool (Veterans Affairs GIDS)

Compare Bradley University with peer institutions

How we evaluate Bradley University

IPEDS
US Department of Education
College Scorecard
Post-grad earnings
Census PSEO
Earnings by major
Opportunity Insights
Mobility by institution
Read our full methodology →