Gustavus Adolphus College
Private College in Saint Peter, MN. Six-year graduation rate 77%. Median 10-year earnings $65,607.
Ten-year median earnings of $65,607 are the headline number here, and they are strong ones. Completion is a strength: 77% of students finish within six years. Median debt at graduation is $26,774, 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.
- ✓ Graduation rate 77% — well above the national average
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
- ! Mobility score 0.7 — limited economic uplift documented
Admissions
An acceptance rate of 61% puts Gustavus Adolphus College on the accessible end — a realistic target for a broad range of applicants. 5,294 applications came in, enough to make the rates below reasonably stable year to year. Only 15% of admitted students enroll — the great majority of admits go elsewhere or nowhere. The score bands below rest on the 42% of enrolled first-years who submitted an ACT score — a self-selected group, and not a cutoff.
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 | — | — |
| SAT Math | — | |
| ACT Composite | 24–30 | 204 (42%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Gustavus Adolphus College →Academics
A 77% six-year graduation rate is the strongest academic signal on this page. First-year retention of 88% shows the cohort holds together through the hardest year. A 16% 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. At 12:1, students get materially more instructor contact than at a typical public university. 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 1,930 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Net price lands at $26,094 a year on average, neither cheap nor punishing. Aid is steeply need-based: families in the $0–30k band pay $12,015 while those at $110k+ pay $29,674. Grant aid is widespread — 100% of students receive it, averaging $39,280. Most students borrow — 55% take federal loans to cover the gap.
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 · 499 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 | $12,015 |
| $30–48k | $10,783 |
| $48–75k | $13,875 |
| $75–110k | $19,015 |
| $110k+ | $29,674 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 1,054 of these 1,930 students, totalling $6,721,833 — an average of $6,377 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Nicollet 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)