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Private College

St Lawrence University

Private College in Canton, NY. Six-year graduation rate 79%. Median 10-year earnings $67,258.

Verdict Mixed outcomes
St Lawrence University · Campus
Median earnings · 10 yr
$67,258
Median debt at grad
$27,000
Mobility score
2.1
% bottom→top quintile
Graduation rate
79.1%
Federal loan default
0%

Ten-year median earnings of $67,258 are the headline number here, and they are strong ones. Completion is a strength: 79% of students finish within six years. Graduates leave owing a median of $27,000 — a substantial load to service on these earnings. Mobility is where this school separates itself: 2.1% of students move 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.

Green Flags
  • Graduation rate 79% — well above the national average
  • 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Red Flags

Admissions

Acceptance rate
54%
Applicants
6,089
Yield rate
12.8%

Selectivity is real here: only 54% of applicants are offered a place. The applicant pool runs to 6,089, typical for a school of this reach. Yield is low at 13%, so most admitted students do not end up enrolling. The score bands below rest on the 15% of enrolled first-years who submitted an SAT score — a self-selected group, and not a cutoff.

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 645–710 64 (15%)
SAT Math 610–710
ACT Composite 30–33 20 (5%)

IPEDS Admissions · 2024

Apply at St Lawrence University →

Academics

Full-time retention
91%
Transfer-out rate
14%
Student:faculty
11:1

A 79% six-year graduation rate is the strongest academic signal on this page. 91% of full-time first-years return for a second year — a healthy figure. 14% transfer out. IPEDS does not follow them, so whether they finished elsewhere is not recorded either way. At 11:1, students get materially more instructor contact than at a typical public university. 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
$33,216
Full-time, first-time undergraduates paying the in-state rate who were awarded grant or scholarship aid
% receiving grants
98%
degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
% receiving federal loans
55%
degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates

IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 2,040 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates

Students pay $33,216 a year on average after aid, a premium price that the earnings data has to justify. Aid is steeply need-based: families in the $0–30k band pay $13,420 while those at $110k+ pay $37,450. Most students get help: 98% receive grants worth $46,754 on average. Most students borrow — 55% 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.

% receiving grants
99%
Average grant
$48,784

IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · 545 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 $13,420
$30–48k $14,008
$48–75k $19,401
$75–110k $24,263
$110k+ $37,450

IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24

Federal student loans went to 1,112 of these 2,040 students, totalling $6,977,988 — an average of $6,275 each.

IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24

Local housing costs

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

Studio
$742/mo
1 bedroom
$816/mo
2 bedroom (whole unit)
$1,071/mo

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

Veterans & GI Bill

GI Bill students
27
Yellow Ribbon
Yes
Principles of Excellence
No

VA GI Bill Comparison Tool (Veterans Affairs GIDS)

Compare St Lawrence University with peer institutions

How we evaluate St Lawrence University

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