Covenant College
Private College in Lookout Mountain, GA. Six-year graduation rate 71%. Median 10-year earnings $50,412.
The median ten-year earnings figure of $50,412 sits near the national middle rather than at either extreme. Completion is a strength: 72% of students finish within six years. Graduates carry a median of $22,500 in debt — in line with the national norm. It also moves people — 2.2% 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
With an acceptance rate of 87%, Covenant College takes nearly everyone who applies. The applicant pool is small at 823, which makes year-over-year comparisons unreliable. About 40% of admitted students enroll, a yield in the normal range. The score bands below rest on the 36% of enrolled first-years who submitted an SAT score — a self-selected group, and not a cutoff.
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 | 600–710 | 102 (36%) |
| SAT Math | 560–670 | |
| ACT Composite | 23–30 | 131 (47%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Covenant College →Academics
Six-year completion runs to 72% — students who start here overwhelmingly finish here. First-year retention of 88% shows the cohort holds together through the hardest year. 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 21% — common enough at this school that the completion rate is measuring a smaller group than the entering class. A 13:1 ratio points to small classes and accessible faculty.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 858 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Students pay an average of $27,926 annually once grants are applied. Net price swings hard on family income here, from $18,310 at the $0–30k band to $30,172 at $110k+. Grant aid is widespread — 99% of students receive it, averaging $28,297. About 43% borrow federally, roughly the national pattern.
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 · 246 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 | $18,310 |
| $30–48k | $15,929 |
| $48–75k | $24,606 |
| $75–110k | $24,836 |
| $110k+ | $30,172 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 367 of these 858 students, totalling $2,259,025 — an average of $6,155 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Dade 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)