Emerson College
Private College in Boston, MA. Six-year graduation rate 77%. Median 10-year earnings $62,832.
Students who entered Emerson College reach a median of $62,832 ten years later, which puts this school in the upper band of undergraduate earnings outcomes. Completion is a strength: 77% of students finish within six years. Debt at graduation runs to a median of $23,000, 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.
- ✓ Graduation rate 77% — well above the national average
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Admissions
Emerson College admits 51% of applicants and is genuinely selective — roughly one in two applicants are turned away. The applicant pool is large — 10,378 in the most recent cycle — so the published rate reflects genuine competition rather than a small-sample quirk. A 16% yield rate is low: the admitted pool is much larger than the entering class. 16% 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 | 660–720 | 130 (16%) |
| SAT Math | 610–700 | |
| ACT Composite | 29–32 | 45 (5%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Emerson College →Academics
Six-year completion runs to 77% — students who start here overwhelmingly finish here. 87% of full-time first-years return for a second year — a healthy figure. At 14:1, 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. The undergraduate population is 4,191 — big enough for a real range of programs, small enough to navigate.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 4,179 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Students pay $53,432 a year on average after aid, a premium price that the earnings data has to justify. The income table below is the number that matters — $32,650 at $0–30k versus $57,288 at $110k+. About 75% get grants averaging $26,674, so plan on the possibility of paying closer to full price. About 43% 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 · 997 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 | $32,650 |
| $30–48k | $32,621 |
| $48–75k | $41,927 |
| $75–110k | $46,252 |
| $110k+ | $57,288 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 1,800 of these 4,179 students, totalling $11,755,405 — an average of $6,531 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Suffolk 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)