Catawba College
Private College in Salisbury, NC. Six-year graduation rate 47%. Median 10-year earnings $48,793.
Ten years after entry, the median Catawba College student earns $48,793 — a solidly middle-of-the-pack result for an undergraduate institution. 47% finish within six years — respectable, though a meaningful share still leave without a credential. Graduates carry a median of $25,000 in debt — in line with the national norm.
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
75% of applicants get in, so the odds favor most reasonably prepared students. 3,457 applications came in, enough to make the rates below reasonably stable year to year. A 13% yield rate is low: the admitted pool is much larger than the entering class. 14% 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 | 520–650 | 45 (14%) |
| SAT Math | 510–650 | |
| ACT Composite | 17–25 | 105 (33%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Catawba College →Academics
Completion is middling: 47% finish inside six years. 77% of full-time first-years come back for year two, so about one in four are gone before sophomore year. That gap between coming back and finishing is where this school loses people — after the first year, not during it. A 13:1 ratio points to small classes and accessible faculty. Judge these figures against other institutions of the same type — sector explains more of the variation in completion than any single campus factor.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 1,117 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Students pay an average of $18,447 annually once grants are applied. The income table below is the number that matters — $13,618 at $0–30k versus $24,420 at $110k+. Most students get help: 96% receive grants worth $29,231 on average. 53% 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 · 304 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 | $13,618 |
| $30–48k | $17,495 |
| $48–75k | $15,412 |
| $75–110k | $17,440 |
| $110k+ | $24,420 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 594 of these 1,117 students, totalling $3,655,142 — an average of $6,153 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Rowan 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)