Princeton University
Private Research University in Princeton, NJ. Six-year graduation rate 98%. Median 10-year earnings $110,066.
Students who entered Princeton University reach a median of $110,066 ten years later, which puts this school in the upper band of undergraduate earnings outcomes. The six-year graduation rate of 98% is well above average and the clearest sign this school holds onto its students. Graduates leave owing a median of $10,320 — modest by four-year standards.
Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.
- ✓ Debt-to-income ratio 0.09 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ Graduation rate 98% — well above the national average
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
- ! Admit rate 5% — heavily selective, limited transfer slots
Admissions
This is a highly selective admit: 5% of applicants receive an offer. 40,468 students applied, a pool deep enough to make the acceptance rate meaningful. 76% of admitted students actually enroll, which is a high yield by national standards. Score ranges below describe the middle half of score submitters among enrolled first-years; students who applied test-optional 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 | 740–780 | 783 (56%) |
| SAT Math | 770–800 | |
| ACT Composite | 34–35 | 303 (21%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Academics
Six-year completion runs to 98% — students who start here overwhelmingly finish here. Retention is strong at 98%, and first-year attrition is where most degrees are lost. At 5:1, students get materially more instructor contact than at a typical public university. As a private nonprofit four-year college, the relevant comparison is other four-year schools rather than the national average across all institutions. 5,671 undergraduates makes this a mid-sized institution.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 5,579 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Students pay an average of $15,313 annually once grants are applied. The income table below is the number that matters — $41 at $0–30k versus $36,094 at $110k+. Grant aid reaches 64% of students at an average of $71,529. Only 2% take federal loans. Private borrowing is not captured in this figure.
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 · 1,364 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 | $41 |
| $30–48k | $352 |
| $48–75k | $1,217 |
| $75–110k | $4,478 |
| $110k+ | $36,094 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 112 of these 5,579 students, totalling $687,690 — an average of $6,140 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Mercer 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)