Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Private Research University in Troy, NY. Six-year graduation rate 84%. Median 10-year earnings $102,051.
Students who entered Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute reach a median of $102,051 ten years later, which puts this school in the upper band of undergraduate earnings outcomes. 84% graduate within six years, so most students who start here finish here. Debt at graduation runs to a median of $23,750, neither a bargain nor a burden. On economic mobility, 3.0% 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.
- ✓ Debt-to-income ratio 0.23 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ Graduation rate 84% — well above the national average
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Admissions
63% of applicants get in, so the odds favor most reasonably prepared students. With 17,175 applications received, this is a school operating at national scale. Yield is low at 12%, so most admitted students do not end up enrolling. Read the score bands below narrowly: only 49% 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 | 670–740 | 643 (49%) |
| SAT Math | 705–770 | |
| ACT Composite | 30–34 | 147 (11%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute →Academics
84% of students finish within six years, putting completion well above the national norm. 91% of full-time first-years return for a second year — a healthy figure. A 14:1 ratio points to small classes and accessible faculty. As a private nonprofit four-year college, the relevant comparison is other four-year schools rather than the national average across all institutions. The undergraduate population is 5,954 — big enough for a real range of programs, small enough to navigate.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 5,909 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Average net price — what students actually pay after grant aid — is $38,887 a year, at the high end of undergraduate cost. The income table below is the number that matters — $24,078 at $0–30k versus $42,541 at $110k+. Most students get help: 92% receive grants worth $41,580 on average. About 51% 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 · 1,552 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 | $24,078 |
| $30–48k | $26,289 |
| $48–75k | $28,212 |
| $75–110k | $36,230 |
| $110k+ | $42,541 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 3,036 of these 5,909 students, totalling $18,722,098 — an average of $6,167 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Rensselaer 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)