Christopher Newport University
Public College in Newport News, VA. Six-year graduation rate 72%. Median 10-year earnings $60,509.
Ten-year median earnings of $60,509 are the headline number here, and they are strong ones. 72% graduate within six years, so most students who start here finish here. Debt at graduation runs to a median of $25,000, 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
Admissions
With an acceptance rate of 86%, Christopher Newport University takes nearly everyone who applies. 7,341 students applied in the most recent cycle — a mid-sized pool drawn mostly from the surrounding region. A 18% yield rate is low: the admitted pool is much larger than the entering class. Read the score bands below narrowly: only 38% 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 | 550–660 | 430 (38%) |
| SAT Math | 510–630 | |
| ACT Composite | 25–30 | 37 (3%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Christopher Newport University →Academics
A 72% six-year graduation rate is the strongest academic signal on this page. 81% of full-time first-years return for a second year — a healthy figure. At 13:1, students get materially more instructor contact than at a typical public university. As a public four-year university, the relevant comparison is other four-year schools rather than the national average across all institutions. The undergraduate population is 4,407 — 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 4,402 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Net price lands at $23,148 a year on average, neither cheap nor punishing. The income table below is the number that matters — $12,461 at $0–30k versus $30,584 at $110k+. Grant aid reaches 57% of students at an average of $10,632. Federal borrowing reaches 37% 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 · 1,162 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 | $12,461 |
| $30–48k | $12,752 |
| $48–75k | $14,163 |
| $75–110k | $22,776 |
| $110k+ | $30,584 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 1,617 of these 4,402 students, totalling $9,872,912 — an average of $6,106 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Newport News City) — 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)