Truman State University
Public College in Kirksville, MO. Six-year graduation rate 69%. Median 10-year earnings $56,280.
Students who entered Truman State University land at a median of $56,280 a decade later, close to what most four-year schools deliver. 69% graduate within six years, so most students who start here finish here. Median debt at graduation is $21,000, 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.
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
- ! Mobility score 0.8 — limited economic uplift documented
Admissions
84% of applicants get in, so the odds favor most reasonably prepared students. 2,883 students applied in the most recent cycle — a mid-sized pool drawn mostly from the surrounding region. About 26% of admitted students enroll, a yield in the normal range. Read the score bands below narrowly: only 5% 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 | 600–700 | 30 (5%) |
| SAT Math | 570–670 | |
| ACT Composite | 25–31 | 267 (43%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Truman State University →Academics
69% of students finish within six years, putting completion well above the national norm. First-year retention of 85% shows the cohort holds together through the hardest year. The two rates sit near each other: few students who return for a second year are missing from the six-year completion figure. At 12:1, students get materially more instructor contact than at a typical public university. Judge these figures against other institutions of the same type — sector explains more of the variation in completion than any single campus factor.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 2,666 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Students pay an average of $13,602 annually, well below typical undergraduate net price. The income table below is the number that matters — $6,046 at $0–30k versus $17,220 at $110k+. Most students get help: 92% receive grants worth $10,730 on average. About 34% borrow federally, roughly the national pattern.
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 · 643 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 | $6,046 |
| $30–48k | $7,926 |
| $48–75k | $12,426 |
| $75–110k | $15,425 |
| $110k+ | $17,220 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 905 of these 2,666 students, totalling $5,406,068 — an average of $5,974 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Adair 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)