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Private College

Pacific University

Private College in Forest Grove, OR. Six-year graduation rate 67%. Median 10-year earnings $60,583.

Verdict Solid outcomes
Pacific University · Campus
Median earnings · 10 yr
$60,583
Median debt at grad
$23,223
Mobility score
1.4
% bottom→top quintile
Graduation rate
67%
Federal loan default
0%

Ten-year median earnings of $60,583 are the headline number here, and they are strong ones. Completion is a strength: 67% of students finish within six years. Graduates carry a median of $23,223 in debt — in line with the national norm.

Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.

Green Flags
  • 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Red Flags

Admissions

Acceptance rate
90%
Applicants
2,988
Yield rate
13.1%

Admission is not the constraint here: 90% of applicants are accepted. The applicant pool runs to 2,988, typical for a school of this reach. Yield is low at 13%, so most admitted students do not end up enrolling. Read the score bands below narrowly: only 5% 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 480–630 17 (5%)
SAT Math 420–610
ACT Composite 18–29 17 (5%)

IPEDS Admissions · 2024

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Academics

Full-time retention
79%
Transfer-out rate
0%
Student:faculty
10:1

A 67% six-year graduation rate is the strongest academic signal on this page. First-year retention is 79% — the single largest point of attrition on this campus. Retention and graduation track closely, so most of the attrition shows up in the first year rather than after it. The 10:1 student-faculty ratio is small enough that seminar-sized classes are the norm. Judge these figures against other institutions of the same type — sector explains more of the variation in completion than any single campus factor.

Financial Aid

Average net price
$35,235
Full-time, first-time undergraduates paying the in-state rate who were awarded grant or scholarship aid
% receiving grants
95%
degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
% receiving federal loans
84%
degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates

IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 1,553 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates

Average net price — what students actually pay after grant aid — is $35,235 a year, at the high end of undergraduate cost. Aid is steeply need-based: families in the $0–30k band pay $23,318 while those at $110k+ pay $40,911. 95% of students get grant aid averaging $34,437, so the published price is a poor guide to what most pay. Most students borrow — 84% take federal loans to cover the gap.

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.

% receiving grants
98%
Average grant
$37,139

IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · 399 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 $23,318
$30–48k $23,607
$48–75k $29,844
$75–110k $34,369
$110k+ $40,911

IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24

Federal student loans went to 1,299 of these 1,553 students, totalling $8,817,075 — an average of $6,788 each.

IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24

Local housing costs

Typical rents near campus (Washington County) — budget these against any cost-of-attendance housing estimate.

Studio
$1,570/mo
1 bedroom
$1,677/mo
2 bedroom (whole unit)
$1,922/mo

HUD Fair Market Rents (40th-percentile gross rent incl. utilities) · FY2026

Veterans & GI Bill

GI Bill students
138
Yellow Ribbon
Yes
Principles of Excellence
No

VA GI Bill Comparison Tool (Veterans Affairs GIDS)

Compare Pacific University with peer institutions

How we evaluate Pacific University

IPEDS
US Department of Education
College Scorecard
Post-grad earnings
Census PSEO
Earnings by major
Opportunity Insights
Mobility by institution
Read our full methodology →