Ohio Northern University
Private College in Ada, OH. Six-year graduation rate 72%. Median 10-year earnings $80,928.
A decade after enrolling, the median Ohio Northern University student earns $80,928 — comfortably above what the typical bachelor's-granting institution returns. 72% graduate within six years, so most students who start here finish here. Debt is the pressure point: a median of $27,000 at graduation.
Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.
- ✓ Debt-to-income ratio 0.33 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Admissions
Ohio Northern University accepts 74% of applicants, which makes it accessible to most students who meet the baseline requirements. 4,640 applications came in, enough to make the rates below reasonably stable year to year. Only 20% of admitted students enroll — the great majority of admits go elsewhere or nowhere. The score bands below rest on the 9% of enrolled first-years who submitted an SAT score — a self-selected group, and not a cutoff.
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 | 585–690 | 64 (9%) |
| SAT Math | 590–710 | |
| ACT Composite | 24–29 | 284 (41%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Ohio Northern University →Academics
Six-year completion runs to 72% — students who start here overwhelmingly finish here. Retention is strong at 84%, and first-year attrition is where most degrees are lost. Retention and completion are close, which places the gap between entering and finishing almost entirely in year one. At 13:1, students get materially more instructor contact than at a typical public university. This is a private nonprofit four-year college, so read every rate on this page against that peer group specifically.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 2,386 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Students pay an average of $25,941 annually once grants are applied. Aid is steeply need-based: families in the $0–30k band pay $18,525 while those at $110k+ pay $27,710. 97% of students get grant aid averaging $27,092, so the published price is a poor guide to what most pay. 59% 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 · 587 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 | $18,525 |
| $30–48k | $19,223 |
| $48–75k | $22,336 |
| $75–110k | $25,605 |
| $110k+ | $27,710 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 1,415 of these 2,386 students, totalling $9,174,478 — an average of $6,484 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Hardin 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)