St Olaf College
Private College in Northfield, MN. Six-year graduation rate 84%. Median 10-year earnings $65,543.
Ten-year median earnings of $65,543 are the headline number here, and they are strong ones. 84% graduate within six years, so most students who start here finish here. Graduates carry a median of $26,000 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.
- ✓ Graduation rate 84% — well above the national average
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
- ! Mobility score 0.8 — limited economic uplift documented
Admissions
At 48%, the acceptance rate makes St Olaf College a school worth applying to with alternatives in hand. The applicant pool runs to 6,623, typical for a school of this reach. Yield sits at 27% — the remainder of admitted students enroll elsewhere or not at all. The score bands below rest on the 11% 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 | 660–740 | 92 (11%) |
| SAT Math | 640–730 | |
| ACT Composite | 28–32 | 249 (29%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at St Olaf College →Academics
84% of students finish within six years, putting completion well above the national norm. Retention is strong at 92%, and first-year attrition is where most degrees are lost. At 11:1, students get materially more instructor contact than at a typical public university. Judge these figures against other institutions of the same type — sector explains more of the variation in completion than any single campus factor. 3,074 undergraduates makes this a mid-sized institution.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 3,049 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Average net price after grant aid is $26,756 a year — mid-range for a four-year institution. The income table below is the number that matters — $10,404 at $0–30k versus $33,166 at $110k+. Most students get help: 99% receive grants worth $44,426 on average. Federal borrowing reaches 42% of students.
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 · 825 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 | $10,404 |
| $30–48k | $11,342 |
| $48–75k | $12,584 |
| $75–110k | $20,367 |
| $110k+ | $33,166 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 1,287 of these 3,049 students, totalling $7,859,542 — an average of $6,107 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Rice 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)