Pennsylvania State
University-Penn State Lehigh Valley
Public College in Center Valley, PA. Six-year graduation rate 18%. Median 10-year earnings $63,435.
Students who entered Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Lehigh Valley reach a median of $63,435 ten years later, which puts this school in the upper band of undergraduate earnings outcomes. Completion is the weak point: 18% graduate within six years. Debt at graduation runs to a median of $25,000, 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.
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
- ! Graduation rate 18% — below national average
Admissions
Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Lehigh Valley admits 97% of applicants — effectively open admission, so the application is a formality rather than a hurdle. 1,827 students applied in the most recent cycle — a mid-sized pool drawn mostly from the surrounding region. Only 14% of admitted students enroll — the great majority of admits go elsewhere or nowhere. Read the score bands below narrowly: only 22% 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 | 580–660 | 55 (22%) |
| SAT Math | 550–660 | |
| ACT Composite | — | 3 (1%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Academics
A six-year graduation rate of 18% means finishing is closer to the exception than the rule. Retention is strong at 83%, and first-year attrition is where most degrees are lost. Retention runs well ahead of completion, which means students are not leaving immediately; they are leaving somewhere between the second year and the finish line. The 44% transfer-out rate is high enough that a large share of this school's students are really passing through. At 14:1, students get materially more instructor contact than at a typical public university.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 902 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Students pay an average of $19,066 annually once grants are applied. Net price swings hard on family income here, from $12,422 at the $0–30k band to $24,539 at $110k+. Grant aid reaches 71% of students at an average of $9,218. 46% 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 · 281 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 | $12,422 |
| $30–48k | $13,319 |
| $48–75k | $16,438 |
| $75–110k | $23,611 |
| $110k+ | $24,539 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 412 of these 902 students, totalling $2,411,212 — an average of $5,852 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Lehigh 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)