Dominican University
Private College in River Forest, IL. Six-year graduation rate 55%. Median 10-year earnings $60,327.
Ten-year median earnings of $60,327 are the headline number here, and they are strong ones. 55% finish within six years — respectable, though a meaningful share still leave without a credential. Debt at graduation runs to a median of $24,411, 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
Admissions
Admission is not the constraint here: 90% of applicants are accepted. 6,873 students applied in the most recent cycle — a mid-sized pool drawn mostly from the surrounding region. Only 12% of admitted students enroll — the great majority of admits go elsewhere or nowhere. Read the score bands below narrowly: only 11% 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 | 460–560 | 85 (11%) |
| SAT Math | 420–540 | |
| ACT Composite | 16–26 | 8 (1%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Dominican University →Academics
55% graduate within six years — average, but that average still hides a large group who do not. First-year retention is 78% — the single largest point of attrition on this campus. Retention and graduation track closely, so most of the attrition shows up in the first year rather than after it. The 31% transfer-out rate is high enough that a large share of this school's students are really passing through. A 12:1 ratio points to small classes and accessible faculty.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 2,271 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
At $13,402 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 $9,759 while those at $110k+ pay $17,963. 97% of students get grant aid averaging $28,428, so the published price is a poor guide to what most pay. 53% 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 · 648 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 | $9,759 |
| $30–48k | $9,014 |
| $48–75k | $11,891 |
| $75–110k | $16,851 |
| $110k+ | $17,963 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 1,199 of these 2,271 students, totalling $7,308,223 — an average of $6,095 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Cook 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)