Franklin and
Marshall College
Private College in Lancaster, PA. Six-year graduation rate 84%. Median 10-year earnings $76,124.
Students who entered Franklin and Marshall College reach a median of $76,124 ten years later, which puts this school in the upper band of undergraduate earnings outcomes. 84% graduate within six years, so most students who start here finish here. Graduates carry a median of $19,000 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.
- ✓ Debt-to-income ratio 0.25 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ Graduation rate 84% — well above the national average
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Admissions
At 28%, the acceptance rate makes Franklin and Marshall College a school worth applying to with alternatives in hand. The applicant pool runs to 9,881, typical for a school of this reach. Yield is low at 17%, so most admitted students do not end up enrolling. 25% 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 | 660–730 | 120 (25%) |
| SAT Math | 650–733 | |
| ACT Composite | 30–33 | 43 (9%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Franklin and Marshall College →Academics
84% of students finish within six years, putting completion well above the national norm. First-year retention of 90% shows the cohort holds together through the hardest year. At 9:1, 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. This is a small school — 1,911 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 1,904 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Net price averages $43,987 annually, so cost is the first thing to weigh here. The income table below is the number that matters — $12,321 at $0–30k versus $49,996 at $110k+. Grant aid reaches 71% of students at an average of $49,007. Federal borrowing reaches 45% of students.
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 · 553 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 | $12,321 |
| $30–48k | $16,942 |
| $48–75k | $16,245 |
| $75–110k | $25,104 |
| $110k+ | $49,996 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 850 of these 1,904 students, totalling $5,438,960 — an average of $6,399 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Lancaster 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)