Spalding University
Private College in Louisville, KY. Six-year graduation rate 52%. Median 10-year earnings $49,438.
Ten years after entry, the median Spalding University student earns $49,438 — a solidly middle-of-the-pack result for an undergraduate institution. 52% finish within six years — respectable, though a meaningful share still leave without a credential. Graduates carry a median of $25,250 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.
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Admissions
With an acceptance rate of 99%, Spalding University takes nearly everyone who applies. The applicant pool is small at 727, which makes year-over-year comparisons unreliable. Only 16% of admitted students enroll — the great majority of admits go elsewhere or nowhere. Read the score bands below narrowly: only 16% of enrolled first-years submitted an SAT score, and test-optional applicants are not represented in them.
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 | 440–513 | 18 (16%) |
| SAT Math | 435–525 | |
| ACT Composite | 15–22 | 78 (69%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Spalding University →Academics
Completion is middling: 52% finish inside six years. Retention of 64% means a meaningful slice of each entering class does not return. The two rates sit near each other: few students who return for a second year are missing from the six-year completion figure. With 31% transferring out, this functions substantially as a stepping stone. The 9:1 student-faculty ratio is small enough that seminar-sized classes are the norm.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 597 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Average net price after grant aid is $25,999 a year — mid-range for a four-year institution. Net price swings hard on family income here, from $20,509 at the $0–30k band to $29,278 at $110k+. 90% of students get grant aid averaging $17,402, so the published price is a poor guide to what most pay. Most students borrow — 73% 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 · 114 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 | $20,509 |
| $30–48k | $22,475 |
| $48–75k | $24,378 |
| $75–110k | $28,122 |
| $110k+ | $29,278 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 433 of these 597 students, totalling $3,109,717 — an average of $7,182 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Jefferson 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)