Pepperdine University
Private College in Malibu, CA. Six-year graduation rate 83%. Median 10-year earnings $82,939.
Ten-year median earnings of $82,939 are the headline number here, and they are strong ones. Completion is a strength: 83% of students finish within six years. Debt at graduation runs to a median of $23,510, 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.
- ✓ Debt-to-income ratio 0.28 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ Graduation rate 83% — well above the national average
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Admissions
63% of applicants get in, so the odds favor most reasonably prepared students. 11,526 students applied, a pool deep enough to make the acceptance rate meaningful. A 12% yield rate is low: the admitted pool is much larger than the entering class. Read the score bands below narrowly: only 18% 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 | 650–710 | 149 (18%) |
| SAT Math | 640–740 | |
| ACT Composite | 29–32 | 84 (10%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Pepperdine University →Academics
83% of students finish within six years, putting completion well above the national norm. 88% of full-time first-years return for a second year — a healthy figure. A 12:1 ratio points to small classes and accessible faculty. Judge these figures against other institutions of the same type — sector explains more of the variation in completion than any single campus factor. The undergraduate population is 3,629 — big enough for a real range of programs, small enough to navigate.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 3,629 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Net price averages $66,585 annually, so cost is the first thing to weigh here. Net price swings hard on family income here, from $50,560 at the $0–30k band to $65,081 at $110k+. 90% of students get grant aid averaging $34,751, so the published price is a poor guide to what most pay. Federal borrowing reaches 37% of students.
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 · 732 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 | $50,560 |
| $30–48k | $42,674 |
| $48–75k | $51,063 |
| $75–110k | $61,851 |
| $110k+ | $65,081 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 1,354 of these 3,629 students, totalling $8,792,439 — an average of $6,494 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Los Angeles 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)