Ithaca College
Private College in Ithaca, NY. Six-year graduation rate 76%. Median 10-year earnings $63,548.
A decade after enrolling, the median Ithaca College student earns $63,548 — comfortably above what the typical bachelor's-granting institution returns. Completion is a strength: 76% of students finish within six years. Debt at graduation runs to a median of $24,000, neither a bargain nor a burden.
Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.
- ✓ Graduation rate 76% — well above the national average
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Admissions
69% of applicants get in, so the odds favor most reasonably prepared students. The applicant pool is large — 12,400 in the most recent cycle — so the published rate reflects genuine competition rather than a small-sample quirk. Only 12% of admitted students enroll — the great majority of admits go elsewhere or nowhere. The score bands below rest on the 20% 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 | 630–710 | 208 (20%) |
| SAT Math | 600–680 | |
| ACT Composite | 27–30 | 51 (5%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Ithaca College →Academics
Six-year completion runs to 76% — students who start here overwhelmingly finish here. 85% of full-time first-years return for a second year — a healthy figure. A 10:1 ratio points to small classes and accessible faculty. As a private nonprofit four-year college, the relevant comparison is other four-year schools rather than the national average across all institutions. With 4,368 undergraduates, the school sits in the middle of the size distribution.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 4,350 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Average net price — what students actually pay after grant aid — is $35,253 a year, at the high end of undergraduate cost. Net price swings hard on family income here, from $21,901 at the $0–30k band to $38,785 at $110k+. Most students get help: 98% receive grants worth $31,074 on average. 65% 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 · 1,194 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 | $21,901 |
| $30–48k | $23,335 |
| $48–75k | $28,832 |
| $75–110k | $31,846 |
| $110k+ | $38,785 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 2,818 of these 4,350 students, totalling $17,956,738 — an average of $6,372 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Tompkins 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)