Metropolitan State
University of Denver
Public College in Denver, CO. Six-year graduation rate 32%. Median 10-year earnings $52,093.
The median ten-year earnings figure of $52,093 sits near the national middle rather than at either extreme. Completion is the weak point: 32% graduate within six years. Debt at graduation runs to a median of $21,500, 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
- ! Mobility score 1.0 — limited economic uplift documented
- ! Graduation rate 32% — below national average
Admissions
With an acceptance rate of 99%, Metropolitan State University of Denver takes nearly everyone who applies. With 11,622 applications received, this is a school operating at national scale. A 19% yield rate is low: the admitted pool is much larger than the entering class. 20% 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 | 450–570 | 418 (20%) |
| SAT Math | 430–560 | |
| ACT Composite | 17–26 | 36 (2%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Metropolitan State University of Denver →Academics
Completion is the problem here: 32% graduate within six years. 63% of full-time first-years come back for year two, so about two in five are gone before sophomore year. The distance between those two figures is the part worth noticing — students return for a second year at a much higher rate than they graduate, so attrition here is spread across the middle years rather than concentrated in the first. Transfer-out runs to 29% — common enough at this school that the completion rate is measuring a smaller group than the entering class. Retention drops to 35% for part-time students, a gap worth weighing if full-time study is not realistic.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 16,099 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Average net price is $14,584 a year after grant aid — low for a four-year institution, though your own figure depends on aid eligibility. The income table below is the number that matters — $12,481 at $0–30k versus $23,822 at $110k+. Grant aid reaches 54% of students at an average of $8,949. About 28% borrow federally, roughly the national pattern.
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 · 1,625 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 | $12,481 |
| $30–48k | $12,436 |
| $48–75k | $14,927 |
| $75–110k | $19,539 |
| $110k+ | $23,822 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 4,551 of these 16,099 students, totalling $32,752,574 — an average of $7,197 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Denver 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)