Carroll University
Private College in Waukesha, WI. Six-year graduation rate 71%. Median 10-year earnings $58,009.
Ten years after entry, the median Carroll University student earns $58,009 — a solidly middle-of-the-pack result for an undergraduate institution. 71% graduate within six years, so most students who start here finish here. Debt is the pressure point: a median of $27,000 at graduation.
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 0.6 — limited economic uplift documented
Admissions
67% of applicants get in, so the odds favor most reasonably prepared students. The applicant pool runs to 6,164, typical for a school of this reach. A 18% yield rate is low: the admitted pool is much larger than the entering class. Read the score bands below narrowly: only 10% 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 | 510–640 | 70 (10%) |
| SAT Math | 530–630 | |
| ACT Composite | 21–27 | 185 (26%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Carroll University →Academics
Six-year completion runs to 71% — students who start here overwhelmingly finish here. Retention of 78% means a meaningful slice of each entering class does not return. At 14:1, 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 2,623 — 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 2,525 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Average net price after grant aid is $27,031 a year — mid-range for a four-year institution. The gap between the $0–30k and $110k+ bands is narrow ($15,718 versus $14,891), meaning aid is not strongly need-weighted. 97% of students get grant aid averaging $23,745, so the published price is a poor guide to what most pay. Most students borrow — 60% 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 · 616 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 | $15,718 |
| $30–48k | $16,875 |
| $48–75k | $14,134 |
| $75–110k | $15,730 |
| $110k+ | $14,891 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 1,522 of these 2,525 students, totalling $13,038,441 — an average of $8,567 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Waukesha 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)