Murray State University
Public College in Murray, KY. Six-year graduation rate 65%. Median 10-year earnings $44,737.
Students who entered Murray State University land at a median of $44,737 a decade later, close to what most four-year schools deliver. Six-year completion sits at 65%, near the national average for undergraduate institutions. Median debt at graduation is $20,500, 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: 86% of applicants are accepted. 10,486 students applied, a pool deep enough to make the acceptance rate meaningful. Yield is low at 17%, so most admitted students do not end up enrolling. Read the score bands below narrowly: only 19% 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 | 480–600 | 291 (19%) |
| SAT Math | 460–570 | |
| ACT Composite | 19–26 | 1,277 (82%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Murray State University →Academics
Completion is middling: 65% finish inside six years. Retention of 76% means a meaningful slice of each entering class does not return. Part-time students fare worse, returning at 17% — relevant if you plan to work while enrolled. The student-faculty ratio is 17:1 — typical, which in practice means large lectures early and smaller classes in the major. Judge these figures against other institutions of the same type — sector explains more of the variation in completion than any single campus factor.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 6,630 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
At $10,182 a year on average after grant aid, cost is low here relative to most undergraduate institutions. Net price swings hard on family income here, from $6,242 at the $0–30k band to $15,450 at $110k+. Grant aid is widespread — 93% of students receive it, averaging $12,751. 42% 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 · 1,646 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 | $6,242 |
| $30–48k | $6,347 |
| $48–75k | $8,104 |
| $75–110k | $12,811 |
| $110k+ | $15,450 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 2,785 of these 6,630 students, totalling $22,494,638 — an average of $8,077 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Calloway 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)