Lincoln University
Public College in Lincoln University, PA. Six-year graduation rate 44%. Median 10-year earnings $43,167.
The median ten-year earnings figure of $43,167 sits near the national middle rather than at either extreme. 44% finish within six years — respectable, though a meaningful share still leave without a credential. Graduates leave owing a median of $28,250 — a substantial load to service on these earnings. It also moves people — 3.4% of students climb from the bottom fifth of the income distribution to the top.
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
- ! Debt-to-income ratio 0.65 — elevated (above 0.60)
Admissions
66% of applicants get in, so the odds favor most reasonably prepared students. The applicant pool runs to 5,248, typical for a school of this reach. Yield is low at 12%, so most admitted students do not end up enrolling. Read the score bands below narrowly: only 1% 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 | 420–500 | 5 (1%) |
| SAT Math | 400–460 | |
| ACT Composite | — | — |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Lincoln University →Academics
Completion is middling: 44% finish inside six years. Retention of 73% means a meaningful slice of each entering class does not return. The distance between those two figures is the part worth noticing — students return for a second year at a much higher rate than they graduate, so attrition here is spread across the middle years rather than concentrated in the first. 30% of students transfer out, which reframes what the graduation rate above is measuring. The part-time picture is harder: 35% return, against 73% full-time.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 1,712 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Average net price is $14,473 a year after grant aid — low for a four-year institution, though your own figure depends on aid eligibility. The gap between the $0–30k and $110k+ bands is narrow ($14,011 versus $21,303), meaning aid is not strongly need-weighted. 88% of students get grant aid averaging $12,436, so the published price is a poor guide to what most pay. Most students borrow — 79% 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 · 534 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 | $14,011 |
| $30–48k | $13,000 |
| $48–75k | $15,641 |
| $75–110k | $19,881 |
| $110k+ | $21,303 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 1,357 of these 1,712 students, totalling $9,104,062 — an average of $6,709 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Chester 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)