Dickinson College
Private College in Carlisle, PA. Six-year graduation rate 80%. Median 10-year earnings $70,204.
A decade after enrolling, the median Dickinson College student earns $70,204 — comfortably above what the typical bachelor's-granting institution returns. 80% graduate within six years, so most students who start here finish here. Debt at graduation runs to a median of $19,000, 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.
- ✓ Debt-to-income ratio 0.27 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ Graduation rate 80% — well above the national average
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Admissions
Dickinson College admits 42% of applicants and is genuinely selective — roughly three in five applicants are turned away. The applicant pool runs to 7,258, typical for a school of this reach. About 21% of admitted students enroll, a yield in the normal range. 23% of enrolled first-years submitted an SAT score. The bands below describe the middle half of that group, not of the class.
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 | 670–740 | 148 (23%) |
| SAT Math | 640–720 | |
| ACT Composite | 30–33 | 33 (5%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Dickinson College →Academics
Six-year completion runs to 80% — students who start here overwhelmingly finish here. 92% of full-time first-years return for a second year — a healthy figure. The two rates sit near each other: few students who return for a second year are missing from the six-year completion figure. The 11:1 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 2,157 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Average net price — what students actually pay after grant aid — is $38,483 a year, at the high end of undergraduate cost. The gap between the $0–30k and $110k+ bands is narrow ($40,755 versus $45,175), meaning aid is not strongly need-weighted. Grant aid is widespread — 93% of students receive it, averaging $43,818. 39% 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 · 525 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 | $40,755 |
| $30–48k | $15,081 |
| $48–75k | $16,316 |
| $75–110k | $22,696 |
| $110k+ | $45,175 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 847 of these 2,157 students, totalling $5,197,761 — an average of $6,137 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Cumberland 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)