Brandeis University
Private Research University in Waltham, MA. Six-year graduation rate 86%. Median 10-year earnings $77,231.
A decade after enrolling, the median Brandeis University student earns $77,231 — comfortably above what the typical bachelor's-granting institution returns. 86% graduate within six years, so most students who start here finish here. Median debt at graduation is $25,648, roughly typical for an undergraduate degree. It also moves people — 2.0% of students climb from the bottom fifth of the income distribution to the top.
Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.
- ✓ Debt-to-income ratio 0.33 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ Graduation rate 86% — well above the national average
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Admissions
Brandeis University admits 41% of applicants and is genuinely selective — roughly three in five applicants are turned away. 10,462 students applied, a pool deep enough to make the acceptance rate meaningful. A 17% yield rate is low: the admitted pool is much larger than the entering class. Read the score bands below narrowly: only 30% 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 | 690–750 | 217 (30%) |
| SAT Math | 700–770 | |
| ACT Composite | 31–34 | 77 (10%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Brandeis University →Academics
Six-year completion runs to 86% — students who start here overwhelmingly finish here. Retention is strong at 87%, and first-year attrition is where most degrees are lost. The 10:1 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. With 3,675 undergraduates, the school sits in the middle of the size distribution.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 3,663 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Average net price — what students actually pay after grant aid — is $43,550 a year, at the high end of undergraduate cost. The income table below is the number that matters — $13,363 at $0–30k versus $54,885 at $110k+. 64% of students receive grant aid, averaging $41,192 — common but not automatic. 28% 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 · 865 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 | $13,363 |
| $30–48k | $15,135 |
| $48–75k | $20,536 |
| $75–110k | $26,784 |
| $110k+ | $54,885 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 1,037 of these 3,663 students, totalling $5,213,115 — an average of $5,027 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Middlesex 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)