Missouri Southern
State University
Public College in Joplin, MO. Six-year graduation rate 41%. Median 10-year earnings $42,620.
Students who entered Missouri Southern State University land at a median of $42,620 a decade later, close to what most four-year schools deliver. The six-year graduation rate is 41%, meaning about three in five students who start do not finish. Median debt at graduation is $19,174, 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
Admission is not the constraint here: 97% of applicants are accepted. The applicant pool runs to 3,194, typical for a school of this reach. Yield sits at 21% — the remainder of admitted students enroll elsewhere or not at all. Read the score bands below narrowly: only 4% of enrolled first-years submitted an SAT 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 | 540–690 | 25 (4%) |
| SAT Math | 610–730 | |
| ACT Composite | 17–24 | 447 (71%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Missouri Southern State University →Academics
Six-year completion sits at 41%, meaning about three in five students who enroll leave without finishing. Retention of 63% means a meaningful slice of each entering class does not return. Retention and completion are close, which places the gap between entering and finishing almost entirely in year one. A 26% 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. Part-time students fare worse, returning at 16% — relevant if you plan to work while enrolled.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 3,101 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
At $11,626 a year on average after grant aid, cost is low here relative to most undergraduate institutions. Income makes less difference than usual: $9,759 at $0–30k, $15,083 at $110k+. About 78% get grants averaging $7,709, so plan on the possibility of paying closer to full price. About 42% 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 · 537 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 | $9,759 |
| $30–48k | $10,132 |
| $48–75k | $11,233 |
| $75–110k | $14,578 |
| $110k+ | $15,083 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 1,307 of these 3,101 students, totalling $7,939,605 — an average of $6,075 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Jasper 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)