Rhodes College
Private College in Memphis, TN. Six-year graduation rate 85%. Median 10-year earnings $66,651.
Ten-year median earnings of $66,651 are the headline number here, and they are strong ones. Completion is a strength: 85% of students finish within six years. Debt at graduation runs to a median of $21,761, 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.
- ✓ Debt-to-income ratio 0.33 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ Graduation rate 85% — well above the national average
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Admissions
At 50%, the acceptance rate makes Rhodes College a school worth applying to with alternatives in hand. The applicant pool runs to 6,365, typical for a school of this reach. Yield is low at 12%, so most admitted students do not end up enrolling. 21% of enrolled first-years submitted an SAT score. The bands below describe the middle half of that group, not of the class.
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 | 650–733 | 80 (21%) |
| SAT Math | 650–753 | |
| ACT Composite | 26–32 | 158 (41%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Rhodes College →Academics
A 85% six-year graduation rate is the strongest academic signal on this page. 92% of full-time first-years return for a second year — a healthy figure. 14% transfer out. IPEDS does not follow them, so whether they finished elsewhere is not recorded either way. The 9:1 student-faculty ratio is small enough that seminar-sized classes are the norm. Judge these figures against other institutions of the same type — sector explains more of the variation in completion than any single campus factor.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 1,902 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Students pay $31,037 a year on average after aid, a premium price that the earnings data has to justify. The income table below is the number that matters — $15,770 at $0–30k versus $31,878 at $110k+. Most students get help: 98% receive grants worth $39,783 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 · 481 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 | $15,770 |
| $30–48k | $19,960 |
| $48–75k | $15,910 |
| $75–110k | $37,103 |
| $110k+ | $31,878 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 965 of these 1,902 students, totalling $6,114,452 — an average of $6,336 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Shelby 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)