Southwestern Oklahoma
State University
Public College in Weatherford, OK. Six-year graduation rate 43%. Median 10-year earnings $45,744.
Students who entered Southwestern Oklahoma State University land at a median of $45,744 a decade later, close to what most four-year schools deliver. The six-year graduation rate is 43%, meaning about three in five students who start do not finish. Graduates leave owing a median of $15,954 — modest by four-year standards. On economic mobility, 2.9% of students travel from the bottom income quintile to the top.
Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.
- ✓ Debt-to-income ratio 0.35 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Admissions
Admission is not the constraint here: 100% of applicants are accepted. The applicant pool runs to 1,689, typical for a school of this reach. A 44% yield rate puts this school in the upper range for admits who follow through. Read the score bands below as the middle 50% of submitted scores, not a threshold to clear.
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 | — | — |
| SAT Math | — | |
| ACT Composite | 17–23 | 571 (78%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Southwestern Oklahoma State University →Academics
Completion is middling: 43% finish inside six years. First-year retention is 68% — the single largest point of attrition on this campus. Retention runs well ahead of completion, which means students are not leaving immediately; they are leaving somewhere between the second year and the finish line. Transfer-out runs to 17% — common enough at this school that the completion rate is measuring a smaller group than the entering class. The part-time picture is harder: 35% return, against 68% full-time.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 3,468 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
At $14,410 a year on average after grant aid, cost is low here relative to most undergraduate institutions. Net price swings hard on family income here, from $10,987 at the $0–30k band to $19,595 at $110k+. About 80% get grants averaging $8,772, so plan on the possibility of paying closer to full price. 36% 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 · 694 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 | $10,987 |
| $30–48k | $10,094 |
| $48–75k | $12,069 |
| $75–110k | $17,500 |
| $110k+ | $19,595 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 1,235 of these 3,468 students, totalling $7,661,614 — an average of $6,204 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Custer 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)