undergradly.
Private College

Skidmore College

Private College in Saratoga Springs, NY. Six-year graduation rate 83%. Median 10-year earnings $69,363.

Verdict Solid outcomes
Skidmore College · Campus
Median earnings · 10 yr
$69,363
Median debt at grad
$19,500
Mobility score
2.0
% bottom→top quintile
Graduation rate
82.6%
Federal loan default
0.2%

Ten-year median earnings of $69,363 are the headline number here, and they are strong ones. Completion is a strength: 83% of students finish within six years. Graduates carry a median of $19,500 in debt — in line with the national norm.

Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.

Green Flags
  • Debt-to-income ratio 0.28 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
  • Graduation rate 83% — well above the national average
  • 3-year loan default 0.2% — below national benchmark
Red Flags

Admissions

Acceptance rate
21%
Applicants
11,889
Yield rate
26.6%

Skidmore College admits just 21% of applicants, placing it among the most selective undergraduate institutions in the country. With 11,889 applications received, this is a school operating at national scale. 27% of those admitted enroll, which is unremarkable in either direction. 23% 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 680–750 155 (23%)
SAT Math 660–730
ACT Composite 31–33 66 (10%)

IPEDS Admissions · 2024

Apply at Skidmore College →

Academics

Full-time retention
90%
Transfer-out rate
13%
Student:faculty
8:1

A 83% six-year graduation rate is the strongest academic signal on this page. Retention is strong at 90%, and first-year attrition is where most degrees are lost. 13% transfer out. IPEDS does not follow them, so whether they finished elsewhere is not recorded either way. The 8:1 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.

Financial Aid

Average net price
$31,187
Full-time, first-time undergraduates paying the in-state rate who were awarded grant or scholarship aid
% receiving grants
57%
degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
% receiving federal loans
33%
degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates

IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 2,760 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates

Average net price — what students actually pay after grant aid — is $31,187 a year, at the high end of undergraduate cost. Aid is steeply need-based: families in the $0–30k band pay $9,932 while those at $110k+ pay $45,136. 57% of students receive grant aid, averaging $52,323 — common but not automatic. About 33% 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.

% receiving grants
53%
Average grant
$54,083

IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · 734 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 $9,932
$30–48k $11,454
$48–75k $15,855
$75–110k $22,438
$110k+ $45,136

IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24

Federal student loans went to 917 of these 2,760 students, totalling $5,541,377 — an average of $6,043 each.

IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24

Local housing costs

Typical rents near campus (Saratoga County) — budget these against any cost-of-attendance housing estimate.

Studio
$1,217/mo
1 bedroom
$1,417/mo
2 bedroom (whole unit)
$1,702/mo

HUD Fair Market Rents (40th-percentile gross rent incl. utilities) · FY2026

Veterans & GI Bill

GI Bill students
15
Yellow Ribbon
Yes
Principles of Excellence
Yes

VA GI Bill Comparison Tool (Veterans Affairs GIDS)

Compare Skidmore College with peer institutions

How we evaluate Skidmore College

IPEDS
US Department of Education
College Scorecard
Post-grad earnings
Census PSEO
Earnings by major
Opportunity Insights
Mobility by institution
Read our full methodology →