Life University
Private College in Marietta, GA. Six-year graduation rate 38%. Median 10-year earnings $47,397.
Students who entered Life University land at a median of $47,397 a decade later, close to what most four-year schools deliver. Only 38% finish within six years, so roughly three in five students leave without the credential they enrolled for. Median debt at graduation is $16,666, 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
With an acceptance rate of 93%, Life University takes nearly everyone who applies. With 574 applicants, admissions statistics here move a lot on small changes. A 42% yield rate puts this school in the upper range for admits who follow through. Read the score bands below narrowly: only 19% of enrolled first-years submitted an SAT score, and test-optional applicants are not represented in them.
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 | 480–590 | 42 (19%) |
| SAT Math | 440–540 | |
| ACT Composite | 17–20 | 19 (8%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Life University →Academics
Only 38% finish within six years, so roughly three in five students leave without the credential. First-year retention is 63% — the single largest point of attrition on this campus. 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 26% 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. At 15:1, 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 868 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Students pay $29,111 a year on average after aid, a premium price that the earnings data has to justify. The gap between the $0–30k and $110k+ bands is narrow ($28,151 versus $30,883), meaning aid is not strongly need-weighted. 82% of students receive grant aid, averaging $12,141 — common but not automatic. Federal borrowing reaches 53% 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 · 199 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 | $28,151 |
| $30–48k | $28,136 |
| $48–75k | $30,263 |
| $75–110k | $33,995 |
| $110k+ | $30,883 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 457 of these 868 students, totalling $4,155,661 — an average of $9,093 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Cobb 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)