South University-Virginia Beach
For-profit College in Virginia Beach, VA. Six-year graduation rate 10%. Median 10-year earnings $34,421.
Median earnings ten years after entry come to $34,421, below what most undergraduate institutions return — the central fact to weigh against cost here. Completion is the weak point: 10% graduate within six years. Debt at graduation runs to a median of $26,123, 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
- ! Debt-to-income ratio 0.76 — elevated (above 0.60)
- ! Graduation rate 10% — below national average
Academics
Completion is the problem here: 10% graduate within six years. First-year retention of 100% shows the cohort holds together through the hardest year. The distance between those two figures is the part worth noticing — students return for a second year at a much higher rate than they graduate, so attrition here is spread across the middle years rather than concentrated in the first. At 13:1, students get materially more instructor contact than at a typical public university. Being a for-profit four-year institution is the single most useful context for these numbers — the sector's spread is wide enough that the school-level figures matter more than usual.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 252 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Average net price after grant aid is $27,843 a year — mid-range for a four-year institution. Net price varies modestly by income — $25,368 at $0–30k against $30,964 at $48–75k — so the average is a fair guide for most families. Grant aid reaches 83% of students at an average of $7,116. 42% of students take federal loans, a middling borrowing rate.
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 · 5 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 | $25,368 |
| $30–48k | $32,147 |
| $48–75k | $30,964 |
| $75–110k | — |
| $110k+ | — |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 106 of these 252 students, totalling $835,862 — an average of $7,885 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Virginia Beach 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)