Mount St.
Mary's University
Private College in Emmitsburg, MD. Six-year graduation rate 65%. Median 10-year earnings $64,072.
Ten-year median earnings of $64,072 are the headline number here, and they are strong ones. 65% graduate within six years, so most students who start here finish here. Debt at graduation runs to a median of $25,391, 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
Admissions
74% of applicants get in, so the odds favor most reasonably prepared students. 6,041 students applied in the most recent cycle — a mid-sized pool drawn mostly from the surrounding region. Yield is low at 12%, so most admitted students do not end up enrolling. 13% 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 | 543–660 | 70 (13%) |
| SAT Math | 503–620 | |
| ACT Composite | 19–27 | 12 (2%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Mount St. Mary's University →Academics
65% of students finish within six years, putting completion well above the national norm. Retention of 71% means a meaningful slice of each entering class does not return. 28% transfer out. IPEDS does not follow them, so whether they finished elsewhere is not recorded either way. At 13:1, students get materially more instructor contact than at a typical public university. As a private nonprofit four-year college, the relevant comparison is other four-year schools rather than the national average across all institutions.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 1,806 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Average net price after grant aid is $23,027 a year — mid-range for a four-year institution. Net price swings hard on family income here, from $11,603 at the $0–30k band to $31,330 at $110k+. Most students get help: 95% receive grants worth $36,591 on average. About 53% 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 · 479 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 | $11,603 |
| $30–48k | $20,067 |
| $48–75k | $21,942 |
| $75–110k | $27,170 |
| $110k+ | $31,330 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 957 of these 1,806 students, totalling $6,210,087 — an average of $6,489 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Frederick 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)