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Private College

Eckerd College

Private College in Saint Petersburg, FL. Six-year graduation rate 66%. Median 10-year earnings $51,819.

Verdict Mixed outcomes
Eckerd College · Campus
Median earnings · 10 yr
$51,819
Median debt at grad
$27,000
Mobility score
1.1
% bottom→top quintile
Graduation rate
65.9%
Federal loan default
0%

Students who entered Eckerd College land at a median of $51,819 a decade later, close to what most four-year schools deliver. The six-year graduation rate of 66% is well above average and the clearest sign this school holds onto its students. Median debt at graduation reaches $27,000, heavy enough to shape the years right after the degree.

Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.

Green Flags
  • 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Red Flags

Admissions

Acceptance rate
76%
Applicants
5,071
Yield rate
12.3%

76% of applicants get in, so the odds favor most reasonably prepared students. 5,071 applications came in, enough to make the rates below reasonably stable year to year. A 12% yield rate is low: the admitted pool is much larger than the entering class. 27% 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 600–690 128 (27%)
SAT Math 560–640
ACT Composite 24–29 79 (17%)

IPEDS Admissions · 2024

Apply at Eckerd College →

Academics

Full-time retention
76%
Transfer-out rate
0%
Student:faculty
11:1

66% of students finish within six years, putting completion well above the national norm. 76% of full-time first-years come back for year two, so about one in four are gone before sophomore year. At 11:1, students get materially more instructor contact than at a typical public university. This is a private nonprofit four-year college, so read every rate on this page against that peer group specifically. At 1,986 undergraduates, expect a small, closely-held student body.

Financial Aid

Average net price
$43,884
Full-time, first-time undergraduates paying the in-state rate who were awarded grant or scholarship aid
% receiving grants
98%
degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
% receiving federal loans
44%
degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates

IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 1,984 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates

Net price averages $43,884 annually, so cost is the first thing to weigh here. The income table below is the number that matters — $29,615 at $0–30k versus $43,955 at $110k+. Grant aid is widespread — 98% of students receive it, averaging $28,120. 44% 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.

% receiving grants
99%
Average grant
$24,813

IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · 534 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 $29,615
$30–48k $34,524
$48–75k $34,294
$75–110k $35,840
$110k+ $43,955

IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24

Federal student loans went to 867 of these 1,984 students, totalling $5,411,410 — an average of $6,242 each.

IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24

Local housing costs

Typical rents near campus (Pinellas County) — budget these against any cost-of-attendance housing estimate.

Studio
$1,593/mo
1 bedroom
$1,696/mo
2 bedroom (whole unit)
$1,977/mo

HUD Fair Market Rents (40th-percentile gross rent incl. utilities) · FY2026

Veterans & GI Bill

GI Bill students
94
Yellow Ribbon
Yes
Principles of Excellence
Yes

VA GI Bill Comparison Tool (Veterans Affairs GIDS)

Compare Eckerd College with peer institutions

How we evaluate Eckerd College

IPEDS
US Department of Education
College Scorecard
Post-grad earnings
Census PSEO
Earnings by major
Opportunity Insights
Mobility by institution
Read our full methodology →