Nicholls State University
Public College in Thibodaux, LA. Six-year graduation rate 55%. Median 10-year earnings $45,454.
Students who entered Nicholls State University land at a median of $45,454 a decade later, close to what most four-year schools deliver. 55% finish within six years — respectable, though a meaningful share still leave without a credential. Debt at graduation runs to a median of $22,675, neither a bargain nor a burden. It also moves people — 2.9% of students climb from the bottom fifth of the income distribution to the top.
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: 91% of applicants are accepted. 3,369 applications came in, enough to make the rates below reasonably stable year to year. 35% of those admitted enroll, which is unremarkable in either direction. Read the score bands below narrowly: only 3% 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 | 472–608 | 34 (3%) |
| SAT Math | 462–588 | |
| ACT Composite | 19–24 | 884 (82%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Nicholls State University →Academics
55% graduate within six years — average, but that average still hides a large group who do not. 77% of full-time first-years come back for year two, so about one in four are gone before sophomore year. Retention and completion are close, which places the gap between entering and finishing almost entirely in year one. Transfer-out runs to 23% — common enough at this school that the completion rate is measuring a smaller group than the entering class. At 19:1, class sizes land in the normal range for an undergraduate institution.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 4,772 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Students pay an average of $12,298 annually, well below typical undergraduate net price. Net price varies modestly by income — $10,714 at $0–30k against $17,954 at $110k+ — so the average is a fair guide for most families. Grant aid reaches 80% of students at an average of $9,214. Federal borrowing reaches 45% 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 · 1,164 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 | $10,714 |
| $30–48k | $10,527 |
| $48–75k | $12,139 |
| $75–110k | $16,784 |
| $110k+ | $17,954 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 2,147 of these 4,772 students, totalling $14,098,007 — an average of $6,566 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Lafourche Parish) — 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)