Central College
Private College in Pella, IA. Six-year graduation rate 66%. Median 10-year earnings $54,317.
Students who entered Central College land at a median of $54,317 a decade later, close to what most four-year schools deliver. Completion is a strength: 66% of students finish within six years. Debt at graduation runs to a median of $26,984, 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 0.9 — limited economic uplift documented
Admissions
With an acceptance rate of 86%, Central College takes nearly everyone who applies. 1,706 students applied in the most recent cycle — a mid-sized pool drawn mostly from the surrounding region. Yield sits at 21% — the remainder of admitted students enroll elsewhere or not at all. Read the score bands below narrowly: only 3% 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 | 528–560 | 8 (3%) |
| SAT Math | 528–560 | |
| ACT Composite | 20–26 | 131 (42%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Central College →Academics
A 66% six-year graduation rate is the strongest academic signal on this page. Retention is strong at 80%, and first-year attrition is where most degrees are lost. The two rates sit near each other: few students who return for a second year are missing from the six-year completion figure. Transfer-out runs to 30% — common enough at this school that the completion rate is measuring a smaller group than the entering class. A 11:1 ratio points to small classes and accessible faculty.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 1,068 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Net price lands at $23,848 a year on average, neither cheap nor punishing. Aid is steeply need-based: families in the $0–30k band pay $16,231 while those at $110k+ pay $27,165. 99% of students get grant aid averaging $12,354, so the published price is a poor guide to what most pay. Borrowing is widespread: 72% take federal loans.
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 · 274 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 | $16,231 |
| $30–48k | $16,237 |
| $48–75k | $19,532 |
| $75–110k | $21,936 |
| $110k+ | $27,165 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 769 of these 1,068 students, totalling $4,986,281 — an average of $6,484 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Marion 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)