Pennsylvania State
University-Penn State Scranton
Public College in Dunmore, PA. Six-year graduation rate 40%. Median 10-year earnings $63,435.
A decade after enrolling, the median Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Scranton student earns $63,435 — comfortably above what the typical bachelor's-granting institution returns. 40% finish within six years — respectable, though a meaningful share still leave without a credential. 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
Admissions
Admission is not the constraint here: 99% of applicants are accepted. The applicant pool runs to 2,155, typical for a school of this reach. A 9% yield rate is low: the admitted pool is much larger than the entering class. 20% 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 | 560–650 | 37 (20%) |
| SAT Math | 540–620 | |
| ACT Composite | — | 1 (1%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Academics
40% graduate within six years — average, but that average still hides a large group who do not. Retention of 79% means a meaningful slice of each entering class does not return. That gap between coming back and finishing is where this school loses people — after the first year, not during it. 24% transfer out. IPEDS does not follow them, so whether they finished elsewhere is not recorded either way. At 11:1, 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 821 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Students pay an average of $17,536 annually once grants are applied. Aid is steeply need-based: families in the $0–30k band pay $14,322 while those at $110k+ pay $23,599. 77% of students receive grant aid, averaging $10,483 — common but not automatic. Most students borrow — 58% 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.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · 237 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 | $14,322 |
| $30–48k | $12,857 |
| $48–75k | $14,839 |
| $75–110k | $22,064 |
| $110k+ | $23,599 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 474 of these 821 students, totalling $2,868,168 — an average of $6,051 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Lackawanna 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)