University of Scranton
Private College in Scranton, PA. Six-year graduation rate 80%. Median 10-year earnings $74,652.
A decade after enrolling, the median University of Scranton student earns $74,652 — comfortably above what the typical bachelor's-granting institution returns. Completion is a strength: 80% of students finish within six years. Debt is the pressure point: a median of $27,000 at graduation.
Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.
- ✓ Graduation rate 80% — well above the national average
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Admissions
81% of applicants get in, so the odds favor most reasonably prepared students. 9,666 students applied in the most recent cycle — a mid-sized pool drawn mostly from the surrounding region. Yield is low at 11%, so most admitted students do not end up enrolling. Read the score bands below narrowly: only 25% 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 | 590–660 | 221 (25%) |
| SAT Math | 570–658 | |
| ACT Composite | 25–30 | 31 (4%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at University of Scranton →Academics
Six-year completion runs to 80% — students who start here overwhelmingly finish here. 85% of full-time first-years return for a second year — a healthy figure. A 11:1 ratio points to small classes and accessible faculty. As a private nonprofit four-year college, the relevant comparison is other four-year schools rather than the national average across all institutions. With 3,666 undergraduates, the school sits in the middle of the size distribution.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 3,589 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Average net price — what students actually pay after grant aid — is $34,234 a year, at the high end of undergraduate cost. The income table below is the number that matters — $23,896 at $0–30k versus $39,348 at $110k+. 95% of students get grant aid averaging $32,688, so the published price is a poor guide to what most pay. Most students borrow — 65% take federal loans to cover the gap.
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 · 1,026 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 | $23,896 |
| $30–48k | $23,407 |
| $48–75k | $23,912 |
| $75–110k | $29,482 |
| $110k+ | $39,348 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 2,341 of these 3,589 students, totalling $15,145,151 — an average of $6,470 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Lackawanna 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)