Stony Brook University
Public Research University in Stony Brook, NY. Six-year graduation rate 76%. Median 10-year earnings $74,502.
Students who entered Stony Brook University reach a median of $74,502 ten years later, which puts this school in the upper band of undergraduate earnings outcomes. 76% graduate within six years, so most students who start here finish here. Graduates carry a median of $18,228 in debt — in line with the national norm. Mobility is where this school separates itself: 8.4% 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.
- ✓ Debt-to-income ratio 0.24 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ Mobility score 8.4 — top quartile among US colleges
- ✓ Graduation rate 76% — well above the national average
Admissions
At 49%, the acceptance rate makes Stony Brook University a school worth applying to with alternatives in hand. The applicant pool is large — 55,880 in the most recent cycle — so the published rate reflects genuine competition rather than a small-sample quirk. A 15% yield rate is low: the admitted pool is much larger than the entering class. The score bands below rest on the 34% 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 | 650–730 | 1,368 (34%) |
| SAT Math | 680–770 | |
| ACT Composite | 29–33 | 129 (3%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Stony Brook University →Academics
Six-year completion runs to 76% — students who start here overwhelmingly finish here. First-year retention of 90% shows the cohort holds together through the hardest year. Retention and completion are close, which places the gap between entering and finishing almost entirely in year one. A 14% transfer-out rate accounts for part of that gap: those students left for another institution rather than dropping out, and the graduation rate above counts them as non-completers here. At 19:1, class sizes land in the normal range for an undergraduate institution.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 17,420 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Average net price after grant aid is $20,992 a year — mid-range for a four-year institution. The income table below is the number that matters — $12,943 at $0–30k versus $27,716 at $110k+. 70% of students receive grant aid, averaging $10,116 — common but not automatic. Federal borrowing reaches 36% 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 · 3,563 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 | $12,943 |
| $30–48k | $15,432 |
| $48–75k | $20,728 |
| $75–110k | $23,424 |
| $110k+ | $27,716 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 6,195 of these 17,420 students, totalling $37,028,610 — an average of $5,977 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Suffolk 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)