Indiana University-Northwest
Public College in Gary, IN. Six-year graduation rate 37%. Median 10-year earnings $43,361.
Students who entered Indiana University-Northwest land at a median of $43,361 a decade later, close to what most four-year schools deliver. Completion is the weak point: 37% graduate within six years. Median debt at graduation is $21,710, 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.
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Admissions
An acceptance rate of 73% puts Indiana University-Northwest on the accessible end — a realistic target for a broad range of applicants. 2,928 students applied in the most recent cycle — a mid-sized pool drawn mostly from the surrounding region. Yield sits at 24% — the remainder of admitted students enroll elsewhere or not at all. The score bands below rest on the 32% of enrolled first-years who submitted an SAT 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 | 460–600 | 162 (32%) |
| SAT Math | 450–580 | |
| ACT Composite | 18–26 | 9 (2%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Indiana University-Northwest →Academics
Only 37% finish within six years, so roughly three in five students leave without the credential. Retention of 71% 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. A 23% 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. A 15:1 ratio points to small classes and accessible faculty.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 2,582 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Students pay an average of $5,745 annually, well below typical undergraduate net price. Aid is steeply need-based: families in the $0–30k band pay $1,419 while those at $110k+ pay $13,042. Grant aid reaches 68% of students at an average of $7,559. Federal borrowing reaches 36% 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 · 431 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 | $1,419 |
| $30–48k | $331 |
| $48–75k | $5,159 |
| $75–110k | $10,047 |
| $110k+ | $13,042 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 936 of these 2,582 students, totalling $6,003,800 — an average of $6,414 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Lake 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)