Drexel University
Private Research University in Philadelphia, PA. Six-year graduation rate 78%. Median 10-year earnings $84,648.
Students who entered Drexel University reach a median of $84,648 ten years later, which puts this school in the upper band of undergraduate earnings outcomes. Completion is a strength: 78% of students finish within six years. Debt at graduation runs to a median of $25,325, 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 0.30 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ Graduation rate 78% — well above the national average
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Admissions
Drexel University accepts 79% of applicants, which makes it accessible to most students who meet the baseline requirements. With 37,314 applications received, this is a school operating at national scale. Only 8% of admitted students enroll — the great majority of admits go elsewhere or nowhere. Read the score bands below narrowly: only 34% 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 | 620–700 | 804 (34%) |
| SAT Math | 620–740 | |
| ACT Composite | 27–32 | 123 (5%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Drexel University →Academics
Six-year completion runs to 78% — students who start here overwhelmingly finish here. 90% of full-time first-years return for a second year — a healthy figure. 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. With 13,589 undergraduates, this is a large institution — expect the administrative scale and the range of offerings that come with it.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 13,560 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Average net price — what students actually pay after grant aid — is $42,801 a year, at the high end of undergraduate cost. Aid is steeply need-based: families in the $0–30k band pay $28,055 while those at $110k+ pay $48,089. Most students get help: 92% receive grants worth $29,045 on average. About 49% borrow federally, roughly the national pattern.
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 · 2,850 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 | $28,055 |
| $30–48k | $29,435 |
| $48–75k | $34,970 |
| $75–110k | $37,842 |
| $110k+ | $48,089 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 6,702 of these 13,560 students, totalling $43,095,810 — an average of $6,430 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Philadelphia 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)