University of
Connecticut-Waterbury Campus
Public College in Waterbury, CT. Six-year graduation rate 53%. Median 10-year earnings $73,997.
A decade after enrolling, the median University of Connecticut-Waterbury Campus student earns $73,997 — comfortably above what the typical bachelor's-granting institution returns. The six-year graduation rate is 53%, meaning about one in two students who start do not finish. Median debt at graduation is $21,500, 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.
- ✓ Debt-to-income ratio 0.29 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Admissions
University of Connecticut-Waterbury Campus admits 87% of applicants — effectively open admission, so the application is a formality rather than a hurdle. 2,166 students applied in the most recent cycle — a mid-sized pool drawn mostly from the surrounding region. Only 13% of admitted students enroll — the great majority of admits go elsewhere or nowhere. Read the score bands below narrowly: only 38% 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 | 480–600 | 90 (38%) |
| SAT Math | 430–600 | |
| ACT Composite | — | 1 (1%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at University of Connecticut-Waterbury Campus →Academics
53% graduate within six years — average, but that average still hides a large group who do not. Retention of 78% means a meaningful slice of each entering class does not return. That gap between coming back and finishing is where this school loses people — after the first year, not during it. Transfer-out runs to 22% — common enough at this school that the completion rate is measuring a smaller group than the entering class. A 20:1 ratio is unremarkable; expect a mix of lecture halls and seminars.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 746 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Average net price is $9,451 a year after grant aid — low for a four-year institution, though your own figure depends on aid eligibility. Net price swings hard on family income here, from $5,604 at the $0–30k band to $20,538 at $110k+. About 77% get grants averaging $13,929, so plan on the possibility of paying closer to full price. 38% 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 · 243 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 | $5,604 |
| $30–48k | $5,463 |
| $48–75k | $11,490 |
| $75–110k | $15,621 |
| $110k+ | $20,538 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 283 of these 746 students, totalling $1,728,626 — an average of $6,108 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Naugatuck Valley Planning Region) — budget these against any cost-of-attendance housing estimate.
HUD Fair Market Rents (40th-percentile gross rent incl. utilities) · FY2026