Fairfield University
Private College in Fairfield, CT. Six-year graduation rate 84%. Median 10-year earnings $88,794.
Ten-year median earnings of $88,794 are the headline number here, and they are strong ones. 84% graduate within six years, so most students who start here finish here. Median debt at graduation is $26,000, roughly typical for an undergraduate degree.
Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.
- ✓ Debt-to-income ratio 0.29 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ Graduation rate 84% — well above the national average
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Admissions
Selectivity is real here: only 33% of applicants are offered a place. With 18,509 applications received, this is a school operating at national scale. About 24% of admitted students enroll, a yield in the normal range. 14% 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 | 630–700 | 200 (14%) |
| SAT Math | 630–690 | |
| ACT Composite | 29–32 | 69 (5%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Fairfield University →Academics
Six-year completion runs to 84% — students who start here overwhelmingly finish here. 91% of full-time first-years return for a second year — a healthy figure. The 12:1 student-faculty ratio is small enough that seminar-sized classes are the norm. As a private nonprofit four-year college, the relevant comparison is other four-year schools rather than the national average across all institutions. 4,968 undergraduates makes this a mid-sized institution.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 4,937 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Average net price — what students actually pay after grant aid — is $49,958 a year, at the high end of undergraduate cost. The income table below is the number that matters — $33,302 at $0–30k versus $50,773 at $110k+. Most students get help: 93% receive grants worth $26,579 on average. 43% 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 · 1,435 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 | $33,302 |
| $30–48k | $35,155 |
| $48–75k | $26,953 |
| $75–110k | $44,077 |
| $110k+ | $50,773 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 2,147 of these 4,937 students, totalling $13,937,517 — an average of $6,492 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Greater Bridgeport Planning Region) — 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)