DeSales University
Private College in Center Valley, PA. Six-year graduation rate 72%. Median 10-year earnings $61,295.
Ten-year median earnings of $61,295 are the headline number here, and they are strong ones. The six-year graduation rate of 72% is well above average and the clearest sign this school holds onto its students. Debt at graduation runs to a median of $25,788, 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 0.7 — limited economic uplift documented
Admissions
An acceptance rate of 77% puts DeSales University on the accessible end — a realistic target for a broad range of applicants. The applicant pool runs to 3,977, typical for a school of this reach. Yield is low at 17%, so most admitted students do not end up enrolling. Read the score bands below narrowly: only 25% 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 | 550–640 | 130 (25%) |
| SAT Math | 540–620 | |
| ACT Composite | 27–28 | 6 (1%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at DeSales University →Academics
72% of students finish within six years, putting completion well above the national norm. Retention is strong at 83%, and first-year attrition is where most degrees are lost. A 18% 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. The 12:1 student-faculty ratio is small enough that seminar-sized classes are the norm. 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 2,113 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Average net price — what students actually pay after grant aid — is $31,732 a year, at the high end of undergraduate cost. The income table below is the number that matters — $24,007 at $0–30k versus $34,878 at $110k+. Grant aid is widespread — 90% of students receive it, averaging $26,615. Borrowing is widespread: 65% take federal loans.
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 · 436 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 | $24,007 |
| $30–48k | $25,400 |
| $48–75k | $26,096 |
| $75–110k | $29,982 |
| $110k+ | $34,878 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 1,372 of these 2,113 students, totalling $9,259,400 — an average of $6,749 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Lehigh 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)