Lewis University
Private College in Romeoville, IL. Six-year graduation rate 67%. Median 10-year earnings $66,099.
A decade after enrolling, the median Lewis University student earns $66,099 — comfortably above what the typical bachelor's-granting institution returns. Completion is a strength: 67% of students finish within six years. Graduates carry a median of $21,500 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.
- ✓ Debt-to-income ratio 0.33 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Admissions
71% of applicants get in, so the odds favor most reasonably prepared students. The applicant pool runs to 6,302, typical for a school of this reach. Only 15% of admitted students enroll — the great majority of admits go elsewhere or nowhere. The score bands below rest on the 24% 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 | 490–600 | 167 (24%) |
| SAT Math | 470–610 | |
| ACT Composite | 20–27 | 29 (4%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Lewis University →Academics
67% of students finish within six years, putting completion well above the national norm. 79% of full-time first-years come back for year two, so about one in five 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. Transfer-out runs to 18% — common enough at this school that the completion rate is measuring a smaller group than the entering class. At 13:1, students get materially more instructor contact than at a typical public university.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 3,665 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Average net price after grant aid is $18,959 a year — mid-range for a four-year institution. The income table below is the number that matters — $10,382 at $0–30k versus $25,035 at $110k+. 94% of students get grant aid averaging $23,261, so the published price is a poor guide to what most pay. 45% of students take federal loans, a middling borrowing rate.
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 · 615 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 | $10,382 |
| $30–48k | $11,712 |
| $48–75k | $12,178 |
| $75–110k | $19,908 |
| $110k+ | $25,035 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 1,665 of these 3,665 students, totalling $11,394,243 — an average of $6,843 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Will 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)