Denison University
Private College in Granville, OH. Six-year graduation rate 79%. Median 10-year earnings $67,753.
Students who entered Denison University reach a median of $67,753 ten years later, which puts this school in the upper band of undergraduate earnings outcomes. 79% graduate within six years, so most students who start here finish here. Debt at graduation runs to a median of $26,000, 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.
- ✓ Graduation rate 79% — well above the national average
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
- ! Mobility score 0.9 — limited economic uplift documented
Admissions
An acceptance rate of 17% means admission is the exception — plan accordingly. The applicant pool is large — 15,012 in the most recent cycle — so the published rate reflects genuine competition rather than a small-sample quirk. Yield sits at 24% — the remainder of admitted students enroll elsewhere or not at all. The score bands below rest on the 29% 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 | 660–730 | 183 (29%) |
| SAT Math | 660–760 | |
| ACT Composite | 30–33 | 138 (22%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Denison University →Academics
A 79% six-year graduation rate is the strongest academic signal on this page. 89% of full-time first-years return for a second year — a healthy figure. A 17% transfer-out rate accounts for part of that gap: those students left for another institution rather than dropping out, and the graduation rate above counts them as non-completers here. At 9:1, students get materially more instructor contact than at a typical public university. Judge these figures against other institutions of the same type — sector explains more of the variation in completion than any single campus factor.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 2,397 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Average net price — what students actually pay after grant aid — is $43,721 a year, at the high end of undergraduate cost. The income table below is the number that matters — $16,656 at $0–30k versus $48,472 at $110k+. 96% of students get grant aid averaging $39,532, so the published price is a poor guide to what most pay. 51% of students take federal loans, a middling borrowing rate.
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 · 636 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 | $16,656 |
| $30–48k | $13,086 |
| $48–75k | $17,827 |
| $75–110k | $20,839 |
| $110k+ | $48,472 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 1,215 of these 2,397 students, totalling $8,357,317 — an average of $6,878 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Licking 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)