Texas Tech University
Public Research University in Lubbock, TX. Six-year graduation rate 69%. Median 10-year earnings $62,454.
Ten-year median earnings of $62,454 are the headline number here, and they are strong ones. Completion is a strength: 69% of students finish within six years. Median debt at graduation is $21,500, roughly typical for an undergraduate degree.
Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.
- ✓ Debt-to-income ratio 0.34 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Admissions
An acceptance rate of 73% puts Texas Tech University on the accessible end — a realistic target for a broad range of applicants. With 34,356 applications received, this is a school operating at national scale. About 27% of admitted students enroll, a yield in the normal range. 33% of enrolled first-years submitted an SAT score. The bands below describe the middle half of that group, not of the class.
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 | 550–640 | 2,241 (33%) |
| SAT Math | 540–640 | |
| ACT Composite | 23–28 | 758 (11%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Texas Tech University →Academics
Six-year completion runs to 69% — students who start here overwhelmingly finish here. Retention is strong at 85%, and first-year attrition is where most degrees are lost. Retention and graduation track closely, so most of the attrition shows up in the first year rather than after it. 20% transfer out. IPEDS does not follow them, so whether they finished elsewhere is not recorded either way. The part-time picture is harder: 62% return, against 85% full-time.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 32,446 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Students pay an average of $16,919 annually once grants are applied. Aid is steeply need-based: families in the $0–30k band pay $12,457 while those at $110k+ pay $24,622. Grant aid reaches 70% of students at an average of $10,294. 41% of students take federal loans, a middling borrowing rate.
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 · 7,120 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 | $12,457 |
| $30–48k | $13,851 |
| $48–75k | $17,058 |
| $75–110k | $22,073 |
| $110k+ | $24,622 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 13,410 of these 32,446 students, totalling $85,162,035 — an average of $6,351 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Lubbock 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)