Marshall University
Public Research University in Huntington, WV. Six-year graduation rate 51%. Median 10-year earnings $46,354.
Students who entered Marshall University land at a median of $46,354 a decade later, close to what most four-year schools deliver. The six-year graduation rate is 51%, meaning about one in two students who start do not finish. Debt at graduation runs to a median of $23,250, neither a bargain nor a burden.
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 96%, Marshall University takes nearly everyone who applies. 6,816 applications came in, enough to make the rates below reasonably stable year to year. 28% of those admitted enroll, which is unremarkable in either direction. The score bands below cover the middle 50% of the enrolled students who submitted a score — not the whole class, 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 | 480–590 | 1,303 (71%) |
| SAT Math | 430–560 | |
| ACT Composite | 19–24 | 931 (51%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Marshall University →Academics
Completion is middling: 51% finish inside six years. First-year retention is 72% — the single largest point of attrition on this campus. Retention and graduation track closely, so most of the attrition shows up in the first year rather than after it. 18% transfer out. IPEDS does not follow them, so whether they finished elsewhere is not recorded either way. The part-time picture is harder: 24% return, against 72% full-time.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 7,149 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
At $8,076 a year on average after grant aid, cost is low here relative to most undergraduate institutions. Net price swings hard on family income here, from $4,648 at the $0–30k band to $15,076 at $110k+. About 83% get grants averaging $12,502, so plan on the possibility of paying closer to full price. 46% 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 · 1,718 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 | $4,648 |
| $30–48k | $4,430 |
| $48–75k | $6,837 |
| $75–110k | $11,227 |
| $110k+ | $15,076 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 3,255 of these 7,149 students, totalling $25,709,155 — an average of $7,898 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Cabell 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)