Philander Smith University
Private College in Little Rock, AR. Six-year graduation rate 30%. Median 10-year earnings $38,427.
Median earnings ten years after entry come to $38,427, below what most undergraduate institutions return — the central fact to weigh against cost here. Only 30% finish within six years, so roughly two in three students leave without the credential they enrolled for. Debt at graduation runs to a median of $24,736, 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
- ! Debt-to-income ratio 0.64 — elevated (above 0.60)
- ! Mobility score 1.0 — limited economic uplift documented
- ! Graduation rate 30% — below national average
Academics
Only 30% finish within six years, so roughly two in three students leave without the credential. First-year retention is 66% — the single largest point of attrition on this campus. 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 37% transfer-out rate is high enough that a large share of this school's students are really passing through. 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 848 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Students pay an average of $14,082 annually, well below typical undergraduate net price. The gap between the $0–30k and $110k+ bands is narrow ($13,393 versus $15,800), meaning aid is not strongly need-weighted. 88% of students get grant aid averaging $12,496, so the published price is a poor guide to what most pay. 58% of students borrow federally, so debt is the norm rather than the exception.
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 · 169 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 | $13,393 |
| $30–48k | $14,606 |
| $48–75k | $16,686 |
| $75–110k | $12,847 |
| $110k+ | $15,800 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 488 of these 848 students, totalling $3,568,327 — an average of $7,312 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Pulaski 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)