Lesley University
Private College in Cambridge, MA. Six-year graduation rate 58%. Median 10-year earnings $51,173.
Students who entered Lesley University land at a median of $51,173 a decade later, close to what most four-year schools deliver. The six-year graduation rate is 58%, meaning about two in five students who start do not finish. Median debt at graduation is $21,000, 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
Admission is not the constraint here: 97% of applicants are accepted. The applicant pool runs to 2,526, typical for a school of this reach. A 8% yield rate is low: the admitted pool is much larger than the entering class.
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 Lesley University →Academics
58% graduate within six years — average, but that average still hides a large group who do not. 72% of full-time first-years come back for year two, so about one in four are gone before sophomore year. Retention and graduation track closely, so most of the attrition shows up in the first year rather than after it. 19% transfer out. IPEDS does not follow them, so whether they finished elsewhere is not recorded either way. A 10:1 ratio points to small classes and accessible faculty.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 1,252 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Average net price — what students actually pay after grant aid — is $32,587 a year, at the high end of undergraduate cost. The income table below is the number that matters — $24,799 at $0–30k versus $35,152 at $110k+. Grant aid is widespread — 86% of students receive it, averaging $16,163. Most students borrow — 58% 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 · 184 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 | $24,799 |
| $30–48k | $24,044 |
| $48–75k | $29,030 |
| $75–110k | $33,201 |
| $110k+ | $35,152 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 723 of these 1,252 students, totalling $4,857,103 — an average of $6,718 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Middlesex 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)