Furman University
Private College in Greenville, SC. Six-year graduation rate 79%. Median 10-year earnings $68,635.
Students who entered Furman University reach a median of $68,635 ten years later, which puts this school in the upper band of undergraduate earnings outcomes. 79% graduate within six years, so most students who start here finish here. Median debt at graduation is $23,250, 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 0.34 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ Graduation rate 79% — well above the national average
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
- ! Mobility score 0.7 — limited economic uplift documented
Admissions
At 43%, the acceptance rate makes Furman University a school worth applying to with alternatives in hand. The applicant pool is large — 10,813 in the most recent cycle — so the published rate reflects genuine competition rather than a small-sample quirk. A 13% yield rate is low: the admitted pool is much larger than the entering class. Read the score bands below narrowly: only 27% 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 | 650–720 | 166 (27%) |
| SAT Math | 610–710 | |
| ACT Composite | 28–32 | 133 (22%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Furman University →Academics
79% of students finish within six years, putting completion well above the national norm. Retention is strong at 91%, and first-year attrition is where most degrees are lost. Retention and completion are close, which places the gap between entering and finishing almost entirely in year one. 19% transfer out. IPEDS does not follow them, so whether they finished elsewhere is not recorded either way. The 10:1 student-faculty ratio is small enough that seminar-sized classes are the norm.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 2,322 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Average net price — what students actually pay after grant aid — is $34,086 a year, at the high end of undergraduate cost. Net price swings hard on family income here, from $16,401 at the $0–30k band to $39,310 at $110k+. Grant aid is widespread — 99% of students receive it, averaging $41,367. About 28% 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 · 618 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 | $16,401 |
| $30–48k | $17,290 |
| $48–75k | $21,041 |
| $75–110k | $27,736 |
| $110k+ | $39,310 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 647 of these 2,322 students, totalling $4,011,624 — an average of $6,200 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Greenville 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)