Oberlin College
Private College in Oberlin, OH. Six-year graduation rate 81%. Median 10-year earnings $58,343.
The median ten-year earnings figure of $58,343 sits near the national middle rather than at either extreme. The six-year graduation rate of 81% is well above average and the clearest sign this school holds onto its students. Debt at graduation runs to a median of $26,000, neither a bargain nor a burden.
Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.
- ✓ Graduation rate 81% — well above the national average
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Admissions
Selectivity is real here: only 34% of applicants are offered a place. 10,536 students applied, a pool deep enough to make the acceptance rate meaningful. Yield is low at 20%, so most admitted students do not end up enrolling. Read the score bands below narrowly: only 32% 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 | 700–760 | 221 (32%) |
| SAT Math | 660–760 | |
| ACT Composite | 31–34 | 119 (17%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Oberlin College →Academics
Six-year completion runs to 81% — students who start here overwhelmingly finish here. Retention is strong at 91%, 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. 2,966 undergraduates makes this a mid-sized institution.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 2,950 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Average net price — what students actually pay after grant aid — is $51,624 a year, at the high end of undergraduate cost. Net price swings hard on family income here, from $18,774 at the $0–30k band to $48,731 at $110k+. 97% of students get grant aid averaging $37,626, so the published price is a poor guide to what most pay. 31% 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 · 778 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 | $18,774 |
| $30–48k | $15,799 |
| $48–75k | $22,123 |
| $75–110k | $29,207 |
| $110k+ | $48,731 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 920 of these 2,950 students, totalling $5,664,990 — an average of $6,158 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Lorain 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)