Carlow University
Private College in Pittsburgh, PA. Six-year graduation rate 60%. Median 10-year earnings $51,051.
Students who entered Carlow University land at a median of $51,051 a decade later, close to what most four-year schools deliver. 60% finish within six years — respectable, though a meaningful share still leave without a credential. Graduates carry a median of $25,500 in debt — in line with the national norm. Mobility is where this school separates itself: 2.5% of students move from the bottom income quintile to the top.
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
Admissions
Admission is not the constraint here: 87% of applicants are accepted. The applicant pool is small at 1,264, which makes year-over-year comparisons unreliable. A 16% yield rate is low: the admitted pool is much larger than the entering class. Read the score bands below narrowly: only 26% 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 | 500–598 | 42 (26%) |
| SAT Math | 460–570 | |
| ACT Composite | — | 3 (3%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Carlow University →Academics
Completion is middling: 60% finish inside six years. First-year retention of 84% shows the cohort holds together through the hardest year. The two rates sit near each other: few students who return for a second year are missing from the six-year completion figure. The 38% transfer-out rate is high enough that a large share of this school's students are really passing through. A 12:1 ratio points to small classes and accessible faculty.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 1,336 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Net price lands at $21,002 a year on average, neither cheap nor punishing. Income makes less difference than usual: $17,901 at $0–30k, $25,214 at $110k+. Grant aid reaches 84% of students at an average of $19,839. Most students borrow — 70% take federal loans to cover the gap.
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 · 218 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 | $17,901 |
| $30–48k | $15,748 |
| $48–75k | $19,517 |
| $75–110k | $21,601 |
| $110k+ | $25,214 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 931 of these 1,336 students, totalling $7,195,203 — an average of $7,728 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Allegheny 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)