Swarthmore College
Private College in Swarthmore, PA. Six-year graduation rate 92%. Median 10-year earnings $80,257.
A decade after enrolling, the median Swarthmore College student earns $80,257 — comfortably above what the typical bachelor's-granting institution returns. 92% graduate within six years, so most students who start here finish here. Graduates carry a median of $17,500 in debt — in line with the national norm. It also moves people — 2.3% of students climb from the bottom fifth of the income distribution 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 0.22 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ Graduation rate 92% — well above the national average
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
- ! Admit rate 7% — heavily selective, limited transfer slots
Admissions
An acceptance rate of 7% means admission is the exception — plan accordingly. With 13,065 applications received, this is a school operating at national scale. 44% of admitted students actually enroll, which is a high yield by national standards. Read the score bands below narrowly: only 39% 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 | 740–770 | 168 (39%) |
| SAT Math | 750–790 | |
| ACT Composite | 33–35 | 69 (16%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Swarthmore College →Academics
A 92% six-year graduation rate is the strongest academic signal on this page. Retention is strong at 94%, and first-year attrition is where most degrees are lost. At 7:1, 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. The undergraduate body is just 1,730, which shapes everything from class size to how often a required course is offered.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 1,713 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Students pay an average of $22,469 annually once grants are applied. The income table below is the number that matters — $7,690 at $0–30k versus $47,544 at $110k+. Grant aid reaches 58% of students at an average of $59,928. 11% borrow federally — a low rate, though it covers federal loans only.
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 · 415 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 | $7,690 |
| $30–48k | $4,951 |
| $48–75k | $11,444 |
| $75–110k | $22,443 |
| $110k+ | $47,544 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 184 of these 1,713 students, totalling $1,105,192 — an average of $6,006 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Delaware 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)