Grambling State University
Public College in Grambling, LA. Six-year graduation rate 36%. Median 10-year earnings $41,109.
Students who entered Grambling State University reach a median of $41,109 a decade later, a figure that trails the typical four-year outcome. Completion is the weak point: 36% graduate within six years. Median debt at graduation reaches $36,500, heavy enough to shape the years right after the degree. On economic mobility, 4.6% 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.
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
- ! Debt-to-income ratio 0.89 — elevated (above 0.60)
Admissions
Grambling State University admits 45% of applicants and is genuinely selective — roughly three in five applicants are turned away. The applicant pool is large — 12,976 in the most recent cycle — so the published rate reflects genuine competition rather than a small-sample quirk. A 18% yield rate is low: the admitted pool is much larger than the entering class. Read the score bands below narrowly: only 6% 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 | 490–570 | 68 (6%) |
| SAT Math | 430–510 | |
| ACT Composite | 15–19 | 234 (22%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Grambling State University →Academics
Only 36% finish within six years, so roughly two in three students leave without the credential. Retention of 66% means a meaningful slice of each entering class does not return. Retention runs well ahead of completion, which means students are not leaving immediately; they are leaving somewhere between the second year and the finish line. The 25:1 student-faculty ratio is high, so large classes and limited faculty contact should be the expectation. Judge these figures against other institutions of the same type — sector explains more of the variation in completion than any single campus factor.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 4,144 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Students pay an average of $17,018 annually once grants are applied. Net price varies modestly by income — $18,666 at $0–30k against $25,310 at $110k+ — so the average is a fair guide for most families. 90% of students get grant aid averaging $8,945, so the published price is a poor guide to what most pay. 80% of students borrow federally, so debt is the norm rather than the exception.
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 · 914 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 | $18,666 |
| $30–48k | $19,007 |
| $48–75k | $21,743 |
| $75–110k | $24,525 |
| $110k+ | $25,310 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 3,330 of these 4,144 students, totalling $23,836,712 — an average of $7,158 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Lincoln Parish) — 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)