Mercy College
of Health Sciences
Private College in Des Moines, IA. Six-year graduation rate 78%. Median 10-year earnings $62,234.
Ten-year median earnings of $62,234 are the headline number here, and they are strong ones. 78% graduate within six years, so most students who start here finish here. Median debt at graduation is $14,745, a light load against those earnings.
Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.
- ✓ Debt-to-income ratio 0.24 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ Graduation rate 78% — well above the national average
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Admissions
With an acceptance rate of 100%, Mercy College of Health Sciences takes nearly everyone who applies. With 679 applicants, admissions statistics here move a lot on small changes. 26% of those admitted enroll, which is unremarkable in either direction. Read the score bands below narrowly: only 9% of enrolled first-years submitted an ACT 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 | — | — |
| SAT Math | — | |
| ACT Composite | 16–21 | 16 (9%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Mercy College of Health Sciences →Academics
A 78% six-year graduation rate is the strongest academic signal on this page. First-year retention is 69% — the single largest point of attrition on this campus. Transfer-out runs to 22% — common enough at this school that the completion rate is measuring a smaller group than the entering class. At 7:1, students get materially more instructor contact than at a typical public university. 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 905 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Net price averages $28,313 annually, so cost is the first thing to weigh here. The gap between the $0–30k and $110k+ bands is narrow ($24,171 versus $29,953), meaning aid is not strongly need-weighted. Grant aid reaches 61% of students at an average of $7,504. Most students borrow — 63% 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 · 49 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 | $24,171 |
| $30–48k | $27,533 |
| $48–75k | $29,193 |
| $75–110k | $26,615 |
| $110k+ | $29,953 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 573 of these 905 students, totalling $4,057,843 — an average of $7,082 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Polk 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)