Bridgewater College
Private College in Bridgewater, VA. Six-year graduation rate 53%. Median 10-year earnings $53,453.
Students who entered Bridgewater College land at a median of $53,453 a decade later, close to what most four-year schools deliver. The six-year graduation rate is 53%, meaning about one in two students who start do not finish. Debt at graduation runs to a median of $26,000, 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 1.0 — limited economic uplift documented
Admissions
With an acceptance rate of 92%, Bridgewater College takes nearly everyone who applies. The applicant pool runs to 3,938, typical for a school of this reach. A 10% yield rate is low: the admitted pool is much larger than the entering class. 6% of enrolled first-years submitted an SAT score. The bands below describe the middle half of that group, not of the class.
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 | 550–680 | 21 (6%) |
| SAT Math | 470–680 | |
| ACT Composite | — | 2 (1%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Bridgewater College →Academics
53% graduate within six years — average, but that average still hides a large group who do not. Retention of 75% means a meaningful slice of each entering class does not return. Retention and completion are close, which places the gap between entering and finishing almost entirely in year one. The 13:1 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 1,388 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
At $11,316 a year on average after grant aid, cost is low here relative to most undergraduate institutions. Aid is steeply need-based: families in the $0–30k band pay $13,283 while those at $110k+ pay $21,448. Most students get help: 100% receive grants worth $40,408 on average. 60% 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 · 429 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 | $13,283 |
| $30–48k | $12,468 |
| $48–75k | $15,046 |
| $75–110k | $20,582 |
| $110k+ | $21,448 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 839 of these 1,388 students, totalling $5,349,895 — an average of $6,377 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Rockingham 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)