Pennsylvania State
University-Penn State Mont Alto
Public College in Mont Alto, PA. Six-year graduation rate 29%. Median 10-year earnings $63,435.
Ten-year median earnings of $63,435 are the headline number here, and they are strong ones. Only 29% finish within six years, so roughly three in four students leave without the credential they enrolled for. Median debt at graduation is $25,000, roughly typical for an undergraduate degree.
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 29% — below national average
Admissions
Admission is not the constraint here: 98% of applicants are accepted. The applicant pool is small at 613, which makes year-over-year comparisons unreliable. 24% of those admitted enroll, which is unremarkable in either direction. The score bands below rest on the 16% 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 | 500–650 | 23 (16%) |
| SAT Math | 480–650 | |
| ACT Composite | — | 4 (3%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Academics
Completion is the problem here: 29% graduate within six years. 83% of full-time first-years return for a second year — a healthy figure. That gap between coming back and finishing is where this school loses people — after the first year, not during it. The 30% transfer-out rate is high enough that a large share of this school's students are really passing through. At 10:1, 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 547 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Students pay an average of $19,675 annually once grants are applied. Aid is steeply need-based: families in the $0–30k band pay $15,811 while those at $110k+ pay $24,009. About 80% get grants averaging $10,225, so plan on the possibility of paying closer to full price. About 54% 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 · 132 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 | $15,811 |
| $30–48k | $13,306 |
| $48–75k | $15,334 |
| $75–110k | $21,654 |
| $110k+ | $24,009 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 298 of these 547 students, totalling $1,894,358 — an average of $6,357 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.
HUD Fair Market Rents (40th-percentile gross rent incl. utilities) · FY2026
Veterans & GI Bill
VA GI Bill Comparison Tool (Veterans Affairs GIDS)