Nichols College
Private College in Dudley, MA. Six-year graduation rate 63%. Median 10-year earnings $58,063.
Students who entered Nichols College land at a median of $58,063 a decade later, close to what most four-year schools deliver. The six-year graduation rate is 63%, meaning about two in five students who start do not finish. Debt is the pressure point: a median of $27,000 at graduation. It also moves people — 2.3% 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
81% of applicants get in, so the odds favor most reasonably prepared students. The applicant pool runs to 2,296, typical for a school of this reach. Only 18% of admitted students enroll — the great majority of admits go elsewhere or nowhere. Read the score bands below narrowly: only 12% 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 | 528–623 | 40 (12%) |
| SAT Math | 500–613 | |
| ACT Composite | — | 3 (1%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Nichols College →Academics
Six-year completion sits at 63%, meaning about two in five students who enroll leave without finishing. 72% of full-time first-years come back for year two, so about one in four are gone before sophomore year. A 15:1 ratio points to small classes and accessible faculty. As a private nonprofit four-year college, the relevant comparison is other four-year schools rather than the national average across all institutions. At 1,152 undergraduates, expect a small, closely-held student body.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 1,152 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Average net price — what students actually pay after grant aid — is $32,337 a year, at the high end of undergraduate cost. Net price swings hard on family income here, from $22,054 at the $0–30k band to $35,731 at $110k+. 91% of students get grant aid averaging $25,256, so the published price is a poor guide to what most pay. Borrowing is widespread: 69% take federal loans.
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 · 334 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 | $22,054 |
| $30–48k | $24,749 |
| $48–75k | $31,978 |
| $75–110k | $33,851 |
| $110k+ | $35,731 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 791 of these 1,152 students, totalling $5,340,525 — an average of $6,752 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Worcester 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)