Coastal Carolina University
Public College in Conway, SC. Six-year graduation rate 48%. Median 10-year earnings $47,258.
Students who entered Coastal Carolina University land at a median of $47,258 a decade later, close to what most four-year schools deliver. 49% finish within six years — respectable, though a meaningful share still leave without a credential. Debt at graduation runs to a median of $23,750, 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 1.0 — limited economic uplift documented
Admissions
75% of applicants get in, so the odds favor most reasonably prepared students. The applicant pool is large — 21,028 in the most recent cycle — so the published rate reflects genuine competition rather than a small-sample quirk. A 17% yield rate is low: the admitted pool is much larger than the entering class. Read the score bands below narrowly: only 23% 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 | 530–620 | 612 (23%) |
| SAT Math | 520–600 | |
| ACT Composite | 21–26 | 221 (8%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Coastal Carolina University →Academics
49% graduate within six years — average, but that average still hides a large group who do not. Retention of 77% means a meaningful slice of each entering class does not return. The distance between those two figures is the part worth noticing — students return for a second year at a much higher rate than they graduate, so attrition here is spread across the middle years rather than concentrated in the first. 32% of students transfer out, which reframes what the graduation rate above is measuring. At 17:1, class sizes land in the normal range for an undergraduate institution.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 9,909 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
At $14,379 a year on average after grant aid, cost is low here relative to most undergraduate institutions. Aid is steeply need-based: families in the $0–30k band pay $9,563 while those at $110k+ pay $20,219. About 80% get grants averaging $12,002, so plan on the possibility of paying closer to full price. Most students borrow — 59% 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 · 2,769 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 | $9,563 |
| $30–48k | $10,292 |
| $48–75k | $12,938 |
| $75–110k | $16,350 |
| $110k+ | $20,219 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 5,843 of these 9,909 students, totalling $37,891,943 — an average of $6,485 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Horry 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)