Thomas Jefferson University
Private Research University in Philadelphia, PA. Six-year graduation rate 69%. Median 10-year earnings $77,449.
Students who entered Thomas Jefferson University reach a median of $77,449 ten years later, which puts this school in the upper band of undergraduate earnings outcomes. The six-year graduation rate of 69% is well above average and the clearest sign this school holds onto its students. Graduates leave owing a median of $14,744 — modest by four-year standards.
Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.
- ✓ Debt-to-income ratio 0.19 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Admissions
81% of applicants get in, so the odds favor most reasonably prepared students. 7,087 applications came in, enough to make the rates below reasonably stable year to year. Yield is low at 12%, so most admitted students do not end up enrolling. The score bands below rest on the 23% 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 | 580–660 | 162 (23%) |
| SAT Math | 580–670 | |
| ACT Composite | 25–30 | 12 (2%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Thomas Jefferson University →Academics
Six-year completion runs to 69% — students who start here overwhelmingly finish here. 82% of full-time first-years return for a second year — a healthy figure. The two rates sit near each other: few students who return for a second year are missing from the six-year completion figure. 23% transfer out. IPEDS does not follow them, so whether they finished elsewhere is not recorded either way. A 12:1 ratio points to small classes and accessible faculty.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 3,705 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Average net price — what students actually pay after grant aid — is $29,325 a year, at the high end of undergraduate cost. The income table below is the number that matters — $22,537 at $0–30k versus $34,889 at $110k+. 90% of students get grant aid averaging $27,176, so the published price is a poor guide to what most pay. 87% of students borrow federally, so debt is the norm rather than the exception.
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 · 781 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 | $22,537 |
| $30–48k | $24,407 |
| $48–75k | $24,680 |
| $75–110k | $29,734 |
| $110k+ | $34,889 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 3,212 of these 3,705 students, totalling $12,829,902 — an average of $3,994 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Philadelphia 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)