undergradly.
Private College

Paul Smiths
College of Arts and Science

Private College in Paul Smiths, NY. Six-year graduation rate 50%. Median 10-year earnings $46,145.

Verdict Mixed outcomes
Paul Smiths College of Arts and Science · Campus
Median earnings · 10 yr
$46,145
Median debt at grad
$22,750
Mobility score
2.0
% bottom→top quintile
Graduation rate
49.7%
Federal loan default
0%

The median ten-year earnings figure of $46,145 sits near the national middle rather than at either extreme. 50% finish within six years — respectable, though a meaningful share still leave without a credential. Graduates carry a median of $22,750 in debt — in line with the national norm. On economic mobility, 2.0% of students travel from the bottom income quintile to the top.

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
77%
Applicants
929
Yield rate
18.9%

77% of applicants get in, so the odds favor most reasonably prepared students. With 929 applicants, admissions statistics here move a lot on small changes. Only 19% of admitted students enroll — the great majority of admits go elsewhere or nowhere.

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
SAT Math
ACT Composite

IPEDS Admissions · 2024

Apply at Paul Smiths College of Arts and Science →

Academics

Full-time retention
75%
Transfer-out rate
0%
Student:faculty
12:1

Completion is middling: 50% finish inside six years. Retention of 75% means a meaningful slice of each entering class does not return. The distance between those two figures is the part worth noticing — students return for a second year at a much higher rate than they graduate, so attrition here is spread across the middle years rather than concentrated in the first. The 12:1 student-faculty ratio is small enough that seminar-sized classes are the norm. This is a private nonprofit four-year college, so read every rate on this page against that peer group specifically.

Financial Aid

Average net price
$28,443
Full-time, first-time undergraduates paying the in-state rate who were awarded grant or scholarship aid
% receiving grants
99%
degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
% receiving federal loans
72%
degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates

IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 582 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates

Average net price — what students actually pay after grant aid — is $28,443 a year, at the high end of undergraduate cost. Aid is steeply need-based: families in the $0–30k band pay $16,732 while those at $110k+ pay $32,048. Grant aid is widespread — 99% of students receive it, averaging $24,886. Borrowing is widespread: 72% 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.

% receiving grants
100%
Average grant
$22,973

IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · 135 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 $16,732
$30–48k $17,877
$48–75k $23,253
$75–110k $29,288
$110k+ $32,048

IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24

Federal student loans went to 421 of these 582 students, totalling $2,548,705 — an average of $6,054 each.

IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24

Local housing costs

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

Studio
$720/mo
1 bedroom
$862/mo
2 bedroom (whole unit)
$1,044/mo

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

Veterans & GI Bill

GI Bill students
35
Yellow Ribbon
Yes
Principles of Excellence
Yes

VA GI Bill Comparison Tool (Veterans Affairs GIDS)

Compare Paul Smiths College of Arts and Science with peer institutions

How we evaluate Paul Smiths College of Arts and Science

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