University of Mary
Private College in Bismarck, ND. Six-year graduation rate 67%. Median 10-year earnings $60,909.
A decade after enrolling, the median University of Mary student earns $60,909 — comfortably above what the typical bachelor's-granting institution returns. 67% graduate within six years, so most students who start here finish here. Debt at graduation runs to a median of $24,000, neither a bargain nor a burden. Mobility is where this school separates itself: 2.4% of students move from the bottom income quintile to the top.
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
Admissions
An acceptance rate of 75% puts University of Mary on the accessible end — a realistic target for a broad range of applicants. 1,810 students applied in the most recent cycle — a mid-sized pool drawn mostly from the surrounding region. 41% of admitted students actually enroll, which is a high yield by national standards. Read the score bands below narrowly: only 7% 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 | 580–680 | 37 (7%) |
| SAT Math | 530–660 | |
| ACT Composite | 21–26 | 211 (37%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at University of Mary →Academics
67% of students finish within six years, putting completion well above the national norm. 84% of full-time first-years return for a second year — a healthy figure. Retention and completion are close, which places the gap between entering and finishing almost entirely in year one. 20% transfer out. IPEDS does not follow them, so whether they finished elsewhere is not recorded either way. At 14:1, students get materially more instructor contact than at a typical public university.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 2,280 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Students pay an average of $20,156 annually once grants are applied. Net price swings hard on family income here, from $11,593 at the $0–30k band to $20,063 at $110k+. 95% of students get grant aid averaging $13,530, so the published price is a poor guide to what most pay. Federal borrowing reaches 52% of students.
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 · 559 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 | $11,593 |
| $30–48k | $12,282 |
| $48–75k | $13,087 |
| $75–110k | $16,001 |
| $110k+ | $20,063 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 1,178 of these 2,280 students, totalling $8,284,922 — an average of $7,033 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Burleigh 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)