Carleton College
Private College in Northfield, MN. Six-year graduation rate 90%. Median 10-year earnings $75,525.
Students who entered Carleton College reach a median of $75,525 ten years later, which puts this school in the upper band of undergraduate earnings outcomes. 90% graduate within six years, so most students who start here finish here. Debt at graduation runs to a median of $16,750, 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.
- ✓ Debt-to-income ratio 0.22 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ Graduation rate 90% — well above the national average
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Admissions
An acceptance rate of 20% means admission is the exception — plan accordingly. 7,133 applications came in, enough to make the rates below reasonably stable year to year. About 35% of admitted students enroll, a yield in the normal range. 34% 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 | 720–770 | 170 (34%) |
| SAT Math | 730–790 | |
| ACT Composite | 32–34 | 129 (25%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Carleton College →Academics
Six-year completion runs to 90% — students who start here overwhelmingly finish here. First-year retention of 96% shows the cohort holds together through the hardest year. At 8:1, students get materially more instructor contact than at a typical public university. Judge these figures against other institutions of the same type — sector explains more of the variation in completion than any single campus factor. The undergraduate population is 2,069 — big enough for a real range of programs, small enough to navigate.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 2,019 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Average net price — what students actually pay after grant aid — is $28,047 a year, at the high end of undergraduate cost. Net price swings hard on family income here, from $7,881 at the $0–30k band to $44,082 at $110k+. About 64% get grants averaging $52,568, so plan on the possibility of paying closer to full price. Federal borrowing reaches 44% of students.
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 · 538 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 | $7,881 |
| $30–48k | $8,203 |
| $48–75k | $9,680 |
| $75–110k | $18,485 |
| $110k+ | $44,082 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 898 of these 2,019 students, totalling $4,530,213 — an average of $5,045 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Rice 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)