Purdue University
Fort Wayne
Public College in Fort Wayne, IN. Six-year graduation rate 36%. Median 10-year earnings $45,872.
Students who entered Purdue University Fort Wayne land at a median of $45,872 a decade later, close to what most four-year schools deliver. Only 36% finish within six years, so roughly two in three students leave without the credential they enrolled for. Debt at graduation runs to a median of $21,500, neither a bargain nor a burden.
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
An acceptance rate of 84% puts Purdue University Fort Wayne on the accessible end — a realistic target for a broad range of applicants. 7,631 applications came in, enough to make the rates below reasonably stable year to year. About 21% of admitted students enroll, a yield in the normal range. Read the score bands below narrowly: only 45% of enrolled first-years submitted an SAT score, and test-optional applicants 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 | 490–610 | 619 (45%) |
| SAT Math | 480–610 | |
| ACT Composite | 22–29 | 53 (4%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Purdue University Fort Wayne →Academics
Only 36% finish within six years, so roughly two in three students leave without the credential. Retention of 67% means a meaningful slice of each entering class does not return. 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. The part-time picture is harder: 36% return, against 67% full-time. A 13:1 ratio points to small classes and accessible faculty.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 5,450 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Students pay an average of $14,735 annually, well below typical undergraduate net price. Net price swings hard on family income here, from $8,306 at the $0–30k band to $20,224 at $110k+. Grant aid reaches 77% of students at an average of $7,823. About 36% borrow federally, roughly the national pattern.
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 · 1,328 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 | $8,306 |
| $30–48k | $8,703 |
| $48–75k | $12,444 |
| $75–110k | $18,430 |
| $110k+ | $20,224 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 1,946 of these 5,450 students, totalling $11,204,309 — an average of $5,758 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Allen 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)