Roanoke College
Private College in Salem, VA. Six-year graduation rate 67%. Median 10-year earnings $58,047.
Students who entered Roanoke College land at a median of $58,047 a decade later, close to what most four-year schools deliver. Completion is a strength: 67% of students finish within six years. Graduates leave owing a median of $27,000 — a substantial load to service on these earnings.
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
- ! Mobility score 1.0 — limited economic uplift documented
Admissions
An acceptance rate of 83% puts Roanoke College on the accessible end — a realistic target for a broad range of applicants. 5,785 applications came in, enough to make the rates below reasonably stable year to year. Yield is low at 10%, so most admitted students do not end up enrolling. 25% 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 | 560–660 | 116 (25%) |
| SAT Math | 530–640 | |
| ACT Composite | 24–31 | 30 (6%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Roanoke College →Academics
67% of students finish within six years, putting completion well above the national norm. First-year retention is 76% — the single largest point of attrition on this campus. The 11:1 student-faculty ratio is small enough that seminar-sized classes are the norm. This is a private nonprofit four-year college, so read every rate on this page against that peer group specifically. This is a small school — 1,824 undergraduates — so cohorts are tight and the program list is necessarily short.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 1,801 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Average net price after grant aid is $26,044 a year — mid-range for a four-year institution. Net price swings hard on family income here, from $15,204 at the $0–30k band to $30,087 at $110k+. 99% of students get grant aid averaging $25,984, so the published price is a poor guide to what most pay. Most students borrow — 81% 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 · 531 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 | $15,204 |
| $30–48k | $17,410 |
| $48–75k | $18,638 |
| $75–110k | $15,902 |
| $110k+ | $30,087 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 1,465 of these 1,801 students, totalling $10,074,118 — an average of $6,877 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Salem City) — 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)