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Public Research University

University of
Arkansas at Little Rock

Public Research University in Little Rock, AR. Six-year graduation rate 41%. Median 10-year earnings $45,265.

Verdict Mixed outcomes
University of Arkansas at Little Rock · Campus
Median earnings · 10 yr
$45,265
Median debt at grad
$22,000
Mobility score
2.1
% bottom→top quintile
Graduation rate
41.4%
Federal loan default
0%

The median ten-year earnings figure of $45,265 sits near the national middle rather than at either extreme. The six-year graduation rate is 41%, meaning about three in five students who start do not finish. Graduates carry a median of $22,000 in debt — in line with the national norm. It also moves people — 2.1% of students climb from the bottom fifth of the income distribution to the top.

Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.

Green Flags
  • 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Red Flags

Admissions

Acceptance rate
59%
Applicants
4,335
Yield rate
21.8%

At 59%, the acceptance rate makes University of Arkansas at Little Rock a school worth applying to with alternatives in hand. 4,335 applications came in, enough to make the rates below reasonably stable year to year. 22% of those admitted enroll, which is unremarkable in either direction. The score bands below rest on the 5% 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 490–630 26 (5%)
SAT Math 470–580
ACT Composite 17–24 465 (84%)

IPEDS Admissions · 2024

Apply at University of Arkansas at Little Rock →

Academics

Full-time retention
76%
Transfer-out rate
24%
Student:faculty
13:1

Completion is middling: 41% finish inside six years. 76% of full-time first-years come back for year two, so about one in four are gone before sophomore year. The distance between those two figures is the part worth noticing — students return for a second year at a much higher rate than they graduate, so attrition here is spread across the middle years rather than concentrated in the first. A 24% transfer-out rate accounts for part of that gap: those students left for another institution rather than dropping out, and the graduation rate above counts them as non-completers here. The part-time picture is harder: 50% return, against 76% full-time.

Financial Aid

Average net price
$12,033
Full-time, first-time undergraduates paying the in-state rate who were awarded grant or scholarship aid
% receiving grants
73%
degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
% receiving federal loans
44%
degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates

IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 4,740 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates

At $12,033 a year on average after grant aid, cost is low here relative to most undergraduate institutions. Income makes less difference than usual: $15,195 at $0–30k, $22,255 at $110k+. 73% of students receive grant aid, averaging $9,227 — common but not automatic. About 44% 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.

% receiving grants
92%
Average grant
$11,013

IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · 452 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 $15,195
$30–48k $16,250
$48–75k $19,018
$75–110k $21,087
$110k+ $22,255

IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24

Federal student loans went to 2,092 of these 4,740 students, totalling $15,812,556 — an average of $7,559 each.

IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24

Local housing costs

Typical rents near campus (Pulaski County) — budget these against any cost-of-attendance housing estimate.

Studio
$984/mo
1 bedroom
$989/mo
2 bedroom (whole unit)
$1,147/mo

HUD Fair Market Rents (40th-percentile gross rent incl. utilities) · FY2026

Veterans & GI Bill

GI Bill students
522
Yellow Ribbon
Yes
Principles of Excellence
Yes

VA GI Bill Comparison Tool (Veterans Affairs GIDS)

Compare University of Arkansas at Little Rock with peer institutions

How we evaluate University of Arkansas at Little Rock

IPEDS
US Department of Education
College Scorecard
Post-grad earnings
Census PSEO
Earnings by major
Opportunity Insights
Mobility by institution
Read our full methodology →