Dordt University
Private College in Sioux Center, IA. Six-year graduation rate 74%. Median 10-year earnings $52,559.
Students who entered Dordt University land at a median of $52,559 a decade later, close to what most four-year schools deliver. Completion is a strength: 74% of students finish within six years. Graduates carry a median of $21,500 in debt — in line with the national norm.
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 0.3 — limited economic uplift documented
Admissions
Dordt University accepts 68% of applicants, which makes it accessible to most students who meet the baseline requirements. 1,773 students applied in the most recent cycle — a mid-sized pool drawn mostly from the surrounding region. About 38% of admitted students enroll, a yield in the normal range. 18% 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 | 540–670 | 60 (18%) |
| SAT Math | 530–660 | |
| ACT Composite | 21–29 | 287 (85%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Dordt University →Academics
A 74% six-year graduation rate is the strongest academic signal on this page. 85% of full-time first-years return for a second year — a healthy figure. The 14:1 student-faculty ratio is small enough that seminar-sized classes are the norm. This is a private nonprofit four-year college, so read every rate on this page against that peer group specifically. This is a small school — 1,695 undergraduates — so cohorts are tight and the program list is necessarily short.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 1,544 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Net price averages $28,486 annually, so cost is the first thing to weigh here. The gap between the $0–30k and $110k+ bands is narrow ($22,597 versus $29,940), meaning aid is not strongly need-weighted. Grant aid is widespread — 100% of students receive it, averaging $21,673. 45% 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 · 458 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 | $22,597 |
| $30–48k | $21,083 |
| $48–75k | $24,079 |
| $75–110k | $25,113 |
| $110k+ | $29,940 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 693 of these 1,544 students, totalling $4,171,749 — an average of $6,020 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Sioux 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)