Suffolk University
Private College in Boston, MA. Six-year graduation rate 61%. Median 10-year earnings $67,506.
Ten-year median earnings of $67,506 are the headline number here, and they are strong ones. The six-year graduation rate is 61%, meaning about two in five students who start do not finish. Debt at graduation runs to a median of $26,889, neither a bargain nor a burden. Mobility is where this school separates itself: 2.7% 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.
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Admissions
An acceptance rate of 82% puts Suffolk University on the accessible end — a realistic target for a broad range of applicants. With 10,308 applications received, this is a school operating at national scale. Yield is low at 11%, so most admitted students do not end up enrolling. Read the score bands below narrowly: only 12% 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 | 550–670 | 115 (12%) |
| SAT Math | 540–630 | |
| ACT Composite | 24–28 | 19 (2%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Suffolk University →Academics
61% graduate within six years — average, but that average still hides a large group who do not. 75% of full-time first-years come back for year two, so about one in four are gone before sophomore year. Retention and graduation track closely, so most of the attrition shows up in the first year rather than after it. Transfer-out runs to 25% — common enough at this school that the completion rate is measuring a smaller group than the entering class. At 15:1, students get materially more instructor contact than at a typical public university.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 4,434 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Students pay $33,832 a year on average after aid, a premium price that the earnings data has to justify. Net price swings hard on family income here, from $24,745 at the $0–30k band to $36,264 at $110k+. Grant aid is widespread — 95% of students receive it, averaging $28,766. Borrowing is widespread: 55% take federal loans.
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 · 1,209 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 | $24,745 |
| $30–48k | $25,711 |
| $48–75k | $25,702 |
| $75–110k | $29,654 |
| $110k+ | $36,264 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 2,456 of these 4,434 students, totalling $16,628,984 — an average of $6,771 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)