Portland State University
Public Research University in Portland, OR. Six-year graduation rate 53%. Median 10-year earnings $57,906.
Students who entered Portland State University land at a median of $57,906 a decade later, close to what most four-year schools deliver. 53% finish within six years — respectable, though a meaningful share still leave without a credential. Debt at graduation runs to a median of $20,500, neither a bargain nor a burden. It also moves people — 2.0% of students climb from the bottom fifth of the income distribution to the top.
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
With an acceptance rate of 91%, Portland State University takes nearly everyone who applies. 9,077 students applied in the most recent cycle — a mid-sized pool drawn mostly from the surrounding region. A 18% yield rate is low: the admitted pool is much larger than the entering 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 | — | 2 (1%) |
| SAT Math | — | |
| ACT Composite | — | — |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Portland State University →Academics
Completion is middling: 53% finish inside six years. Retention of 76% means a meaningful slice of each entering class does not return. The two rates sit near each other: few students who return for a second year are missing from the six-year completion figure. A 24% transfer-out rate accounts for part of that gap: those students left for another institution rather than dropping out, and the graduation rate above counts them as non-completers here. Retention drops to 48% for part-time students, a gap worth weighing if full-time study is not realistic.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 13,619 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Average net price is $10,195 a year after grant aid — low for a four-year institution, though your own figure depends on aid eligibility. Net price swings hard on family income here, from $7,655 at the $0–30k band to $19,112 at $110k+. About 62% get grants averaging $10,551, so plan on the possibility of paying closer to full price. Federal borrowing reaches 38% 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 · 1,444 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 | $7,655 |
| $30–48k | $7,752 |
| $48–75k | $8,981 |
| $75–110k | $12,993 |
| $110k+ | $19,112 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 5,142 of these 13,619 students, totalling $36,853,587 — an average of $7,167 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Multnomah 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)