Southern University
at New Orleans
Public College in New Orleans, LA. Six-year graduation rate 13%. Median 10-year earnings $34,042.
Students who entered Southern University at New Orleans reach a median of $34,042 a decade later, a figure that trails the typical four-year outcome. The six-year graduation rate is 13% — low enough that finishing cannot be treated as the default outcome. Debt is the pressure point: a median of $31,000 at graduation. It also moves people — 3.6% of students climb from the bottom fifth of the income distribution to the top.
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 0.91 — elevated (above 0.60)
- ! Graduation rate 13% — below national average
Admissions
An acceptance rate of 79% puts Southern University at New Orleans on the accessible end — a realistic target for a broad range of applicants. The applicant pool runs to 6,526, typical for a school of this reach. Only 3% of admitted students enroll — the great majority of admits go elsewhere or nowhere. 10% 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 | 410–540 | 17 (10%) |
| SAT Math | 410–510 | |
| ACT Composite | 15–20 | 104 (64%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Southern University at New Orleans →Academics
Only 13% finish within six years, so roughly nine in ten students leave without the credential. Retention is weak: only 52% of full-time first-years return, so roughly one in two leave after one year. That gap between coming back and finishing is where this school loses people — after the first year, not during it. 40% of students transfer out, which reframes what the graduation rate above is measuring. At 13:1, students get materially more instructor contact than at a typical public university.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 1,077 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Students pay an average of $14,480 annually, well below typical undergraduate net price. The gap between the $0–30k and $75–110k bands is narrow ($14,771 versus $19,360), meaning aid is not strongly need-weighted. 77% of students receive grant aid, averaging $7,868 — common but not automatic. 64% of students borrow federally, so debt is the norm rather than the exception.
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 · 151 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 | $14,771 |
| $30–48k | — |
| $48–75k | $16,748 |
| $75–110k | $19,360 |
| $110k+ | — |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 693 of these 1,077 students, totalling $2,581,664 — an average of $3,725 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Orleans Parish) — 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)