Loyola University Chicago
Private Research University in Chicago, IL. Six-year graduation rate 75%. Median 10-year earnings $71,530.
Students who entered Loyola University Chicago reach a median of $71,530 ten years later, which puts this school in the upper band of undergraduate earnings outcomes. 75% graduate within six years, so most students who start here finish here. Median debt at graduation is $24,157, roughly typical for an undergraduate degree. It also moves people — 3.1% 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.
- ✓ Debt-to-income ratio 0.34 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Admissions
An acceptance rate of 82% puts Loyola University Chicago on the accessible end — a realistic target for a broad range of applicants. The applicant pool is large — 39,315 in the most recent cycle — so the published rate reflects genuine competition rather than a small-sample quirk. Only 9% of admitted students enroll — the great majority of admits go elsewhere or nowhere. 23% of enrolled first-years submitted an SAT score. The bands below describe the middle half of that group, not of the 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 | 600–690 | 623 (23%) |
| SAT Math | 570–670 | |
| ACT Composite | 27–32 | 426 (15%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Loyola University Chicago →Academics
A 75% six-year graduation rate is the strongest academic signal on this page. 82% of full-time first-years return for a second year — a healthy figure. 20% transfer out. IPEDS does not follow them, so whether they finished elsewhere is not recorded either way. The 13:1 student-faculty ratio is small enough that seminar-sized classes are the norm. As a private nonprofit four-year college, the relevant comparison is other four-year schools rather than the national average across all institutions.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 11,576 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Average net price — what students actually pay after grant aid — is $39,147 a year, at the high end of undergraduate cost. The income table below is the number that matters — $28,992 at $0–30k versus $42,346 at $110k+. 93% of students get grant aid averaging $27,592, so the published price is a poor guide to what most pay. Federal borrowing reaches 48% 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 · 3,115 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 | $28,992 |
| $30–48k | $28,663 |
| $48–75k | $32,432 |
| $75–110k | $36,853 |
| $110k+ | $42,346 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 5,591 of these 11,576 students, totalling $36,661,741 — an average of $6,557 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Cook 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)