Muhlenberg College
Private College in Allentown, PA. Six-year graduation rate 82%. Median 10-year earnings $69,107.
Ten-year median earnings of $69,107 are the headline number here, and they are strong ones. The six-year graduation rate of 82% is well above average and the clearest sign this school holds onto its students. Graduates carry a median of $25,455 in debt — in line with the national norm.
Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.
- ✓ Graduation rate 82% — well above the national average
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
- ! Mobility score 1.0 — limited economic uplift documented
Admissions
Muhlenberg College accepts 72% of applicants, which makes it accessible to most students who meet the baseline requirements. The applicant pool runs to 4,963, typical for a school of this reach. A 13% yield rate is low: the admitted pool is much larger than the entering class. Read the score bands below narrowly: only 16% 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 | 640–710 | 76 (16%) |
| SAT Math | 610–700 | |
| ACT Composite | 29–33 | 27 (6%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Muhlenberg College →Academics
82% of students finish within six years, putting completion well above the national norm. Retention is strong at 90%, and first-year attrition is where most degrees are lost. The 9:1 student-faculty ratio is small enough that seminar-sized classes are the norm. As a private nonprofit four-year college, the relevant comparison is other four-year schools rather than the national average across all institutions. This is a small school — 1,788 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 1,777 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Net price averages $34,739 annually, so cost is the first thing to weigh here. Aid is steeply need-based: families in the $0–30k band pay $12,302 while those at $110k+ pay $37,603. Most students get help: 94% receive grants worth $40,867 on average. 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 · 427 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 | $12,302 |
| $30–48k | $16,629 |
| $48–75k | $19,717 |
| $75–110k | $25,452 |
| $110k+ | $37,603 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 943 of these 1,777 students, totalling $5,980,259 — an average of $6,342 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Lehigh 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)