McDaniel College
Private College in Westminster, MD. Six-year graduation rate 63%. Median 10-year earnings $60,663.
Students who entered McDaniel College reach a median of $60,663 ten years later, which puts this school in the upper band of undergraduate earnings outcomes. The six-year graduation rate is 63%, meaning about two in five students who start do not finish. Debt at graduation runs to a median of $25,000, 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
78% of applicants get in, so the odds favor most reasonably prepared students. The applicant pool runs to 4,237, typical for a school of this reach. Yield is low at 14%, so most admitted students do not end up enrolling.
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 | — | — |
| SAT Math | — | |
| ACT Composite | — | — |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at McDaniel College →Academics
Completion is middling: 63% finish inside six years. Retention of 76% means a meaningful slice of each entering class does not return. The two rates sit near each other: few students who return for a second year are missing from the six-year completion figure. The 13:1 student-faculty ratio is small enough that seminar-sized classes are the norm. This is a private nonprofit four-year college, so read every rate on this page against that peer group specifically.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 1,659 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Average net price after grant aid is $24,497 a year — mid-range for a four-year institution. Aid is steeply need-based: families in the $0–30k band pay $12,210 while those at $110k+ pay $30,694. 100% of students get grant aid averaging $37,655, so the published price is a poor guide to what most pay. 59% of students borrow federally, so debt is the norm rather than the exception.
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 · 424 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 | $12,210 |
| $30–48k | $17,261 |
| $48–75k | $19,796 |
| $75–110k | $21,408 |
| $110k+ | $30,694 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 972 of these 1,659 students, totalling $6,074,616 — an average of $6,250 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Carroll 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)