Charleston Southern University
Private College in Charleston, SC. Six-year graduation rate 47%. Median 10-year earnings $45,898.
Ten years after entry, the median Charleston Southern University student earns $45,898 — a solidly middle-of-the-pack result for an undergraduate institution. Six-year completion sits at 47%, near the national average for undergraduate institutions. Debt at graduation runs to a median of $26,471, neither a bargain nor a burden. It also moves people — 2.1% of students climb from the bottom fifth of the income distribution 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: 96% of applicants are accepted. 4,660 students applied in the most recent cycle — a mid-sized pool drawn mostly from the surrounding region. Only 18% of admitted students enroll — the great majority of admits go elsewhere or nowhere. Read the score bands below narrowly: only 49% 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 | 480–600 | 387 (49%) |
| SAT Math | 450–560 | |
| ACT Composite | 18–24 | 246 (31%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Charleston Southern University →Academics
Completion is middling: 47% finish inside six years. First-year retention is 63% — the single largest point of attrition on this campus. Retention and graduation track closely, so most of the attrition shows up in the first year rather than after it. The 12:1 student-faculty ratio is small enough that seminar-sized classes are the norm. As a private nonprofit four-year college, the relevant comparison is other four-year schools rather than the national average across all institutions.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 2,716 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Average net price after grant aid is $21,080 a year — mid-range for a four-year institution. Net price varies modestly by income — $20,145 at $0–30k against $23,226 at $110k+ — so the average is a fair guide for most families. Grant aid is widespread — 92% of students receive it, averaging $21,860. Federal borrowing reaches 52% 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 · 721 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 | $20,145 |
| $30–48k | $23,024 |
| $48–75k | $20,697 |
| $75–110k | $21,648 |
| $110k+ | $23,226 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 1,412 of these 2,716 students, totalling $9,067,844 — an average of $6,422 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Charleston 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)