The New
England Conservatory of Music
Private College in Boston, MA. Six-year graduation rate 73%. Median 10-year earnings $34,483.
Median earnings ten years after entry come to $34,483, below what most undergraduate institutions return — the central fact to weigh against cost here. 73% graduate within six years, so most students who start here finish here. Median debt at graduation reaches $27,000, heavy enough to shape the years right after the degree.
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
- ! Debt-to-income ratio 0.78 — elevated (above 0.60)
Admissions
The New England Conservatory of Music admits 41% of applicants and is genuinely selective — roughly three in five applicants are turned away. Only 1,112 students applied, so treat these rates as directional — small pools swing sharply between cycles. Yield sits at 30% — the remainder of admitted students enroll elsewhere or not at all.
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 | — | — |
| SAT Math | — | |
| ACT Composite | — | — |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at The New England Conservatory of Music →Academics
A 73% six-year graduation rate is the strongest academic signal on this page. Retention is strong at 88%, and first-year attrition is where most degrees are lost. Retention and completion are close, which places the gap between entering and finishing almost entirely in year one. At 5:1, 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.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 393 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Students pay $50,367 a year on average after aid, a premium price that the earnings data has to justify. The gap between the $0–30k and $110k+ bands is narrow ($47,882 versus $47,387), meaning aid is not strongly need-weighted. Most students get help: 90% receive grants worth $26,644 on average. Federal borrowing is uncommon here at 23% 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 · 97 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 | $47,882 |
| $30–48k | $44,882 |
| $48–75k | $45,625 |
| $75–110k | $45,608 |
| $110k+ | $47,387 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 92 of these 393 students, totalling $549,501 — an average of $5,973 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
caution_flag_reason; School may not be able to accept new GI Bill students
VA GI Bill Comparison Tool (Veterans Affairs GIDS)