McPherson College
Private College in McPherson, KS. Six-year graduation rate 34%. Median 10-year earnings $52,084.
Students who entered McPherson College land at a median of $52,084 a decade later, close to what most four-year schools deliver. The six-year graduation rate is 34% — low enough that finishing cannot be treated as the default outcome. Debt at graduation runs to a median of $25,242, neither a bargain nor a burden. 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
- ! Graduation rate 34% — below national average
Admissions
McPherson College accepts 77% of applicants, which makes it accessible to most students who meet the baseline requirements. 1,846 applications came in, enough to make the rates below reasonably stable year to year. Yield sits at 22% — the remainder of admitted students enroll elsewhere or not at all. 42% 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 | 470–620 | 31 (42%) |
| SAT Math | 490–580 | |
| ACT Composite | 18–23 | 70 (34%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at McPherson College →Academics
Only 34% finish within six years, so roughly two in three students leave without the credential. Retention of 65% means a meaningful slice of each entering class does not return. That gap between coming back and finishing is where this school loses people — after the first year, not during it. The student-faculty ratio is 16:1 — typical, which in practice means large lectures early and smaller classes in the major. 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 786 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Students pay an average of $27,110 annually once grants are applied. Aid is steeply need-based: families in the $0–30k band pay $22,587 while those at $110k+ pay $31,043. Grant aid is widespread — 100% of students receive it, averaging $24,130. 64% 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 · 241 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 | $22,587 |
| $30–48k | $20,939 |
| $48–75k | $28,655 |
| $75–110k | $28,737 |
| $110k+ | $31,043 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 502 of these 786 students, totalling $3,172,769 — an average of $6,320 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (McPherson 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)