Montana State University-Northern
Public College in Havre, MT. Six-year graduation rate 35%. Median 10-year earnings $49,505.
Ten years after entry, the median Montana State University-Northern student earns $49,505 — a solidly middle-of-the-pack result for an undergraduate institution. The six-year graduation rate is 35% — low enough that finishing cannot be treated as the default outcome. Debt at graduation runs to a median of $18,500, neither a bargain nor a burden. On economic mobility, 3.6% of students travel from the bottom income quintile to the top.
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
Academics
A six-year graduation rate of 35% means finishing is closer to the exception than the rule. Retention of 64% means a meaningful slice of each entering class does not return. That gap between coming back and finishing is where this school loses people — after the first year, not during it. The 13:1 student-faculty ratio is small enough that seminar-sized classes are the norm. This is a public four-year university, 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 781 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Students pay an average of $9,961 annually, well below typical undergraduate net price. Income makes less difference than usual: $9,940 at $0–30k, $16,578 at $110k+. 78% of students receive grant aid, averaging $6,635 — common but not automatic. 36% of students take federal loans, a middling borrowing rate.
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 · 165 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 | $9,940 |
| $30–48k | $9,242 |
| $48–75k | $12,451 |
| $75–110k | $16,315 |
| $110k+ | $16,578 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 285 of these 781 students, totalling $1,654,427 — an average of $5,805 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Hill 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)