Providence College
Private College in Providence, RI. Six-year graduation rate 86%. Median 10-year earnings $87,054.
Ten-year median earnings of $87,054 are the headline number here, and they are strong ones. The six-year graduation rate of 86% is well above average and the clearest sign this school holds onto its students. Debt is the pressure point: a median of $27,000 at graduation.
Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.
- ✓ Debt-to-income ratio 0.31 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ Graduation rate 86% — well above the national average
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
- ! Mobility score 0.9 — limited economic uplift documented
Admissions
At 51%, the acceptance rate makes Providence College a school worth applying to with alternatives in hand. With 12,521 applications received, this is a school operating at national scale. A 19% yield rate is low: the admitted pool is much larger than the entering class. The score bands below rest on the 19% 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 | 630–700 | 237 (19%) |
| SAT Math | 620–690 | |
| ACT Composite | 29–32 | 58 (5%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Providence College →Academics
86% of students finish within six years, putting completion well above the national norm. Retention is strong at 94%, and first-year attrition is where most degrees are lost. A 11:1 ratio points to small classes and accessible faculty. Judge these figures against other institutions of the same type — sector explains more of the variation in completion than any single campus factor. 4,191 undergraduates makes this a mid-sized institution.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 4,170 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Average net price — what students actually pay after grant aid — is $48,618 a year, at the high end of undergraduate cost. Aid is steeply need-based: families in the $0–30k band pay $28,152 while those at $110k+ pay $56,699. About 78% get grants averaging $32,482, so plan on the possibility of paying closer to full price. Most students borrow — 57% 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 · 1,191 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 | $28,152 |
| $30–48k | $21,835 |
| $48–75k | $25,296 |
| $75–110k | $33,169 |
| $110k+ | $56,699 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 2,391 of these 4,170 students, totalling $15,481,695 — an average of $6,475 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Providence 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)