Minnesota State
University Moorhead
Public College in Moorhead, MN. Six-year graduation rate 57%. Median 10-year earnings $50,527.
Students who entered Minnesota State University Moorhead land at a median of $50,527 a decade later, close to what most four-year schools deliver. The six-year graduation rate is 57%, meaning about two in five students who start do not finish. Median debt at graduation is $20,000, roughly typical for an undergraduate degree.
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
Selectivity is real here: only 59% of applicants are offered a place. 3,751 applications came in, enough to make the rates below reasonably stable year to year. Yield sits at 27% — the remainder of admitted students enroll elsewhere or not at all. Score ranges below describe the middle half of score submitters among enrolled first-years; students who applied test-optional 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 | 18–25 | 309 (51%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Minnesota State University Moorhead →Academics
Six-year completion sits at 57%, meaning about two in five students who enroll leave without finishing. First-year retention is 75% — the single largest point of attrition on this campus. Retention and graduation track closely, so most of the attrition shows up in the first year rather than after it. 24% transfer out. IPEDS does not follow them, so whether they finished elsewhere is not recorded either way. At 17:1, class sizes land in the normal range for an undergraduate institution.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 3,120 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Average net price after grant aid is $18,221 a year — mid-range for a four-year institution. Aid is steeply need-based: families in the $0–30k band pay $11,129 while those at $110k+ pay $22,420. 73% of students receive grant aid, averaging $6,775 — common but not automatic. Federal borrowing reaches 53% of students.
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 · 603 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 | $11,129 |
| $30–48k | $11,547 |
| $48–75k | $13,907 |
| $75–110k | $18,644 |
| $110k+ | $22,420 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 1,647 of these 3,120 students, totalling $10,748,513 — an average of $6,526 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Clay 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)