Montreat College
Private College in Montreat, NC. Six-year graduation rate 51%. Median 10-year earnings $45,151.
The median ten-year earnings figure of $45,151 sits near the national middle rather than at either extreme. The six-year graduation rate is 51%, meaning about one in two students who start do not finish. Median debt at graduation is $25,813, 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
Montreat College accepts 69% of applicants, which makes it accessible to most students who meet the baseline requirements. 1,740 applications came in, enough to make the rates below reasonably stable year to year. A 18% 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
Apply at Montreat College →Academics
Completion is middling: 51% finish inside six years. 59% first-year retention is low enough to be the defining risk of enrolling here. A 11:1 ratio points to small classes and accessible faculty. Judge these figures against other institutions of the same type — sector explains more of the variation in completion than any single campus factor. This is a small school — 759 undergraduates — so cohorts are tight and the program list is necessarily short.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 741 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Average net price — what students actually pay after grant aid — is $28,112 a year, at the high end of undergraduate cost. The gap between the $0–30k and $110k+ bands is narrow ($23,261 versus $30,607), meaning aid is not strongly need-weighted. Most students get help: 92% receive grants worth $20,161 on average. Borrowing is widespread: 69% 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 · 197 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 | $23,261 |
| $30–48k | $24,904 |
| $48–75k | $25,075 |
| $75–110k | $25,700 |
| $110k+ | $30,607 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 514 of these 741 students, totalling $3,544,196 — an average of $6,895 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Buncombe 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)