Pacific Lutheran University
Private College in Tacoma, WA. Six-year graduation rate 69%. Median 10-year earnings $66,990.
Students who entered Pacific Lutheran University reach a median of $66,990 ten years later, which puts this school in the upper band of undergraduate earnings outcomes. 69% graduate within six years, so most students who start here finish here. Debt at graduation runs to a median of $22,578, 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.
- ✓ Debt-to-income ratio 0.34 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.1% — below national benchmark
- ! Mobility score 0.9 — limited economic uplift documented
Admissions
78% of applicants get in, so the odds favor most reasonably prepared students. The applicant pool runs to 4,992, typical for a school of this reach. Only 14% of admitted students enroll — the great majority of admits go elsewhere or nowhere. 15% of enrolled first-years submitted an SAT score. The bands below describe the middle half of that group, not of the class.
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 | 540–660 | 81 (15%) |
| SAT Math | 500–600 | |
| ACT Composite | 22–28 | 12 (2%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Pacific Lutheran University →Academics
69% of students finish within six years, putting completion well above the national norm. Retention is strong at 82%, 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. Transfer-out runs to 25% — common enough at this school that the completion rate is measuring a smaller group than the entering class. The 12:1 student-faculty ratio is small enough that seminar-sized classes are the norm.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 2,350 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Students pay an average of $22,299 annually once grants are applied. Aid is steeply need-based: families in the $0–30k band pay $13,609 while those at $110k+ pay $26,915. 95% of students get grant aid averaging $38,295, so the published price is a poor guide to what most pay. About 45% borrow federally, roughly the national pattern.
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 · 622 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 | $13,609 |
| $30–48k | $12,948 |
| $48–75k | $15,756 |
| $75–110k | $22,535 |
| $110k+ | $26,915 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 1,058 of these 2,350 students, totalling $12,011,721 — an average of $11,353 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Pierce 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)