University of Arizona
Public Research University in Tucson, AZ. Six-year graduation rate 68%. Median 10-year earnings $59,979.
Students who entered University of Arizona land at a median of $59,979 a decade later, close to what most four-year schools deliver. 68% graduate within six years, so most students who start here finish here. Graduates carry a median of $19,620 in debt — in line with the national norm.
Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.
- ✓ Debt-to-income ratio 0.33 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Admissions
Admission is not the constraint here: 86% of applicants are accepted. The applicant pool is large — 58,339 in the most recent cycle — so the published rate reflects genuine competition rather than a small-sample quirk. Only 18% of admitted students enroll — the great majority of admits go elsewhere or nowhere. The score bands below rest on the 11% 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 | 580–700 | 1,035 (11%) |
| SAT Math | 570–720 | |
| ACT Composite | 21–29 | 1,701 (18%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at University of Arizona →Academics
Six-year completion runs to 68% — students who start here overwhelmingly finish here. Retention is strong at 83%, 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. Transfer-out runs to 17% — common enough at this school that the completion rate is measuring a smaller group than the entering class. The part-time picture is harder: 52% return, against 83% full-time.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 40,769 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Net price lands at $19,055 a year on average, neither cheap nor punishing. Net price swings hard on family income here, from $13,353 at the $0–30k band to $22,307 at $110k+. Grant aid reaches 79% of students at an average of $14,562. 26% 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 · 8,625 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 | $13,353 |
| $30–48k | $14,984 |
| $48–75k | $16,051 |
| $75–110k | $19,777 |
| $110k+ | $22,307 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 10,689 of these 40,769 students, totalling $67,310,388 — an average of $6,297 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Pima 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)