Pontifical Catholic
University of Puerto Rico-Ponce
Private College in Ponce, PR. Six-year graduation rate 49%. Median 10-year earnings $24,908.
Ten-year median earnings of $24,908 are on the low side, which raises the bar for what this degree needs to cost. The six-year graduation rate is 49%, meaning about one in two students who start do not finish. Graduates leave owing a median of $15,500 — modest by four-year standards.
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 0.62 — elevated (above 0.60)
Admissions
Admission is not the constraint here: 98% of applicants are accepted. 2,817 applications came in, enough to make the rates below reasonably stable year to year. About 32% of admitted students enroll, a yield in the normal range. The score bands below rest on the 3% 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 | 595–680 | 23 (3%) |
| SAT Math | 600–680 | |
| ACT Composite | — | — |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico-Ponce →Academics
Completion is middling: 49% finish inside six years. First-year retention of 83% shows the cohort holds together through the hardest year. 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. At 16:1, class sizes land in the normal range for an undergraduate institution. Judge these figures against other institutions of the same type — sector explains more of the variation in completion than any single campus factor.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 3,827 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
At $13,319 a year on average after grant aid, cost is low here relative to most undergraduate institutions. The gap between the $0–30k and $110k+ bands is narrow ($12,384 versus $20,122), meaning aid is not strongly need-weighted. Most students get help: 91% receive grants worth $8,508 on average. 30% 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 · 752 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 | $12,384 |
| $30–48k | $13,341 |
| $48–75k | $15,812 |
| $75–110k | $18,329 |
| $110k+ | $20,122 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 1,144 of these 3,827 students, totalling $5,795,082 — an average of $5,066 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Ponce Municipio) — 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)