George Mason University
Public Research University in Fairfax, VA. Six-year graduation rate 68%. Median 10-year earnings $76,343.
Students who entered George Mason University reach a median of $76,343 ten years later, which puts this school in the upper band of undergraduate earnings outcomes. Completion is a strength: 68% of students finish within six years. Graduates carry a median of $19,500 in debt — in line with the national norm. On economic mobility, 3.1% of students travel from the bottom income quintile to the top.
Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.
- ✓ Debt-to-income ratio 0.26 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Admissions
With an acceptance rate of 87%, George Mason University takes nearly everyone who applies. 25,234 students applied, a pool deep enough to make the acceptance rate meaningful. Yield sits at 20% — the remainder of admitted students enroll elsewhere or not at all. 19% 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 | 580–680 | 829 (19%) |
| SAT Math | 580–680 | |
| ACT Composite | 25–30 | 80 (2%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at George Mason University →Academics
A 68% six-year graduation rate is the strongest academic signal on this page. 86% of full-time first-years return for a second year — a healthy figure. The two rates sit near each other: few students who return for a second year are missing from the six-year completion figure. A 17% transfer-out rate accounts for part of that gap: those students left for another institution rather than dropping out, and the graduation rate above counts them as non-completers here. The part-time picture is harder: 68% return, against 86% full-time.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 27,076 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Average net price after grant aid is $18,823 a year — mid-range for a four-year institution. The income table below is the number that matters — $11,942 at $0–30k versus $25,894 at $110k+. Grant aid reaches 62% of students at an average of $11,640. Federal borrowing reaches 31% 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 · 4,276 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 | $11,942 |
| $30–48k | $12,093 |
| $48–75k | $15,224 |
| $75–110k | $19,430 |
| $110k+ | $25,894 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 8,491 of these 27,076 students, totalling $55,220,744 — an average of $6,503 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Fairfax 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)