Merrimack College
Private College in North Andover, MA. Six-year graduation rate 70%. Median 10-year earnings $75,584.
Students who entered Merrimack College reach a median of $75,584 ten years later, which puts this school in the upper band of undergraduate earnings outcomes. The six-year graduation rate of 70% is well above average and the clearest sign this school holds onto its students. Graduates leave owing a median of $27,000 — a substantial load to service on these earnings.
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
- ! Mobility score 0.8 — limited economic uplift documented
Admissions
An acceptance rate of 70% puts Merrimack College on the accessible end — a realistic target for a broad range of applicants. 14,070 students applied, a pool deep enough to make the acceptance rate meaningful. A 10% yield rate is low: the admitted pool is much larger than the entering 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 | — | — |
| SAT Math | — | |
| ACT Composite | — | — |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Academics
A 70% six-year graduation rate is the strongest academic signal on this page. Retention of 79% means a meaningful slice of each entering class does not return. A 21% transfer-out rate accounts for part of that gap: those students left for another institution rather than dropping out, and the graduation rate above counts them as non-completers here. 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 4,043 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Average net price — what students actually pay after grant aid — is $38,504 a year, at the high end of undergraduate cost. Aid is steeply need-based: families in the $0–30k band pay $31,710 while those at $110k+ pay $41,050. 98% of students get grant aid averaging $29,058, so the published price is a poor guide to what most pay. Borrowing is widespread: 62% take federal loans.
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 · 1,071 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 | $31,710 |
| $30–48k | $29,417 |
| $48–75k | $31,962 |
| $75–110k | $36,045 |
| $110k+ | $41,050 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 2,519 of these 4,043 students, totalling $16,423,179 — an average of $6,520 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Essex 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)