Prairie View
A & M University
Public Research University in Prairie View, TX. Six-year graduation rate 43%. Median 10-year earnings $45,411.
Students who entered Prairie View A & M University land at a median of $45,411 a decade later, close to what most four-year schools deliver. 43% finish within six years — respectable, though a meaningful share still leave without a credential. Graduates leave owing a median of $27,000 — a substantial load to service on these earnings. On economic mobility, 3.5% of students travel from the bottom income quintile 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
79% of applicants get in, so the odds favor most reasonably prepared students. With 12,936 applications received, this is a school operating at national scale. Only 18% of admitted students enroll — the great majority of admits go elsewhere or nowhere. Read the score bands below as the middle 50% of submitted scores, not a threshold to clear.
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 | 450–550 | 1,182 (63%) |
| SAT Math | 410–530 | |
| ACT Composite | 16–21 | 305 (16%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Prairie View A & M University →Academics
43% graduate within six years — average, but that average still hides a large group who do not. First-year retention is 76% — the single largest point of attrition on this campus. That gap between coming back and finishing is where this school loses people — after the first year, not during it. A 25% 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. At 17:1, class sizes land in the normal range for an undergraduate institution.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 8,527 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Average net price is $14,448 a year after grant aid — low for a four-year institution, though your own figure depends on aid eligibility. Net price varies modestly by income — $12,120 at $0–30k against $16,376 at $110k+ — so the average is a fair guide for most families. Most students get help: 95% receive grants worth $9,220 on average. Most students borrow — 68% 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 · 1,903 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 | $12,120 |
| $30–48k | $13,465 |
| $48–75k | $16,024 |
| $75–110k | $17,753 |
| $110k+ | $16,376 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 5,808 of these 8,527 students, totalling $37,385,640 — an average of $6,437 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Waller 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)