Lenoir-Rhyne University
Private College in Hickory, NC. Six-year graduation rate 48%. Median 10-year earnings $45,543.
Ten years after entry, the median Lenoir-Rhyne University student earns $45,543 — a solidly middle-of-the-pack result for an undergraduate institution. The six-year graduation rate is 48%, meaning about one in two students who start do not finish. Graduates carry a median of $26,000 in debt — in line with the national norm.
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 85% puts Lenoir-Rhyne University on the accessible end — a realistic target for a broad range of applicants. 3,666 applications came in, enough to make the rates below reasonably stable year to year. Yield is low at 11%, so most admitted students do not end up enrolling.
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 | — | — |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Lenoir-Rhyne University →Academics
Completion is middling: 48% finish inside six years. First-year retention is 76% — the single largest point of attrition on this campus. That gap between coming back and finishing is where this school loses people — after the first year, not during it. A 15:1 ratio points to small classes and accessible faculty. This is a private nonprofit four-year college, so read every rate on this page against that peer group specifically.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 1,348 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Net price lands at $21,546 a year on average, neither cheap nor punishing. The gap between the $0–30k and $110k+ bands is narrow ($18,669 versus $25,866), meaning aid is not strongly need-weighted. 97% of students get grant aid averaging $22,999, so the published price is a poor guide to what most pay. 61% 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 · 376 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 | $18,669 |
| $30–48k | $18,768 |
| $48–75k | $17,209 |
| $75–110k | $21,878 |
| $110k+ | $25,866 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 823 of these 1,348 students, totalling $5,318,823 — an average of $6,463 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Catawba 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)