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Private College

Goucher College

Private College in Baltimore, MD. Six-year graduation rate 57%. Median 10-year earnings $53,023.

Verdict Mixed outcomes
Goucher College · Campus
Median earnings · 10 yr
$53,023
Median debt at grad
$26,000
Mobility score
2.2
% bottom→top quintile
Graduation rate
57.3%
Federal loan default
0%

Ten years after entry, the median Goucher College student earns $53,023 — a solidly middle-of-the-pack result for an undergraduate institution. 57% finish within six years — respectable, though a meaningful share still leave without a credential. Debt at graduation runs to a median of $26,000, neither a bargain nor a burden. On economic mobility, 2.2% 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.

Green Flags
  • 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Red Flags

Admissions

Acceptance rate
78%
Applicants
3,683
Yield rate
9.7%

Goucher College accepts 78% of applicants, which makes it accessible to most students who meet the baseline requirements. 3,683 students applied in the most recent cycle — a mid-sized pool drawn mostly from the surrounding region. Yield is low at 10%, so most admitted students do not end up enrolling. Read the score bands below narrowly: only 20% 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 560–680 55 (20%)
SAT Math 530–645
ACT Composite 27–30 15 (5%)

IPEDS Admissions · 2024

Apply at Goucher College →

Academics

Full-time retention
79%
Transfer-out rate
0%
Student:faculty
9:1

Completion is middling: 57% finish inside six years. 79% of full-time first-years come back for year two, so about one in five are gone before sophomore year. Retention and graduation track closely, so most of the attrition shows up in the first year rather than after it. The 9:1 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.

Financial Aid

Average net price
$26,913
Full-time, first-time undergraduates paying the in-state rate who were awarded grant or scholarship aid
% receiving grants
99%
degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
% receiving federal loans
54%
degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates

IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 942 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates

Average net price after grant aid is $26,913 a year — mid-range for a four-year institution. The income table below is the number that matters — $13,471 at $0–30k versus $32,220 at $110k+. 99% of students get grant aid averaging $41,300, so the published price is a poor guide to what most pay. 54% 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.

% receiving grants
100%
Average grant
$43,791

IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · 257 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 $13,471
$30–48k $18,066
$48–75k $20,403
$75–110k $24,781
$110k+ $32,220

IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24

Federal student loans went to 507 of these 942 students, totalling $3,292,967 — an average of $6,495 each.

IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24

Local housing costs

Typical rents near campus (Baltimore County) — budget these against any cost-of-attendance housing estimate.

Studio
$1,362/mo
1 bedroom
$1,511/mo
2 bedroom (whole unit)
$1,857/mo

HUD Fair Market Rents (40th-percentile gross rent incl. utilities) · FY2026

Veterans & GI Bill

GI Bill students
32
Yellow Ribbon
Yes
Principles of Excellence
Yes

VA GI Bill Comparison Tool (Veterans Affairs GIDS)

Compare Goucher College with peer institutions

How we evaluate Goucher College

IPEDS
US Department of Education
College Scorecard
Post-grad earnings
Census PSEO
Earnings by major
Opportunity Insights
Mobility by institution
Read our full methodology →