Nebraska Wesleyan University
Private College in Lincoln, NE. Six-year graduation rate 66%. Median 10-year earnings $56,405.
Students who entered Nebraska Wesleyan University land at a median of $56,405 a decade later, close to what most four-year schools deliver. The six-year graduation rate of 66% is well above average and the clearest sign this school holds onto its students. Graduates carry a median of $26,970 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.
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
- ! Mobility score 0.6 — limited economic uplift documented
Admissions
An acceptance rate of 80% puts Nebraska Wesleyan University on the accessible end — a realistic target for a broad range of applicants. 2,725 students applied in the most recent cycle — a mid-sized pool drawn mostly from the surrounding region. Only 16% of admitted students enroll — the great majority of admits go elsewhere or nowhere. Read the score bands below narrowly: only 2% 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 | 490–660 | 5 (2%) |
| SAT Math | 530–630 | |
| ACT Composite | 22–27 | 81 (23%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Nebraska Wesleyan University →Academics
66% of students finish within six years, putting completion well above the national norm. Retention of 75% means a meaningful slice of each entering class does not return. Transfer-out runs to 25% — common enough at this school that the completion rate is measuring a smaller group than the entering class. At 12:1, 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 1,518 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Students pay an average of $21,122 annually once grants are applied. Net price swings hard on family income here, from $14,925 at the $0–30k band to $23,652 at $110k+. Most students get help: 98% receive grants worth $29,838 on average. 55% of students borrow federally, so debt is the norm rather than the exception.
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 · 440 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 | $14,925 |
| $30–48k | $16,974 |
| $48–75k | $14,594 |
| $75–110k | $18,244 |
| $110k+ | $23,652 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 832 of these 1,518 students, totalling $5,441,771 — an average of $6,541 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Lancaster 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)