Valparaiso University
Private College in Valparaiso, IN. Six-year graduation rate 70%. Median 10-year earnings $63,191.
Students who entered Valparaiso University reach a median of $63,191 ten years later, which puts this school in the upper band of undergraduate earnings outcomes. Completion is a strength: 70% of students finish within six years. Debt at graduation runs to a median of $26,942, neither a bargain nor a burden.
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
- ! Mobility score 0.8 — limited economic uplift documented
Admissions
With an acceptance rate of 89%, Valparaiso University takes nearly everyone who applies. The applicant pool runs to 6,199, typical for a school of this reach. Only 10% of admitted students enroll — the great majority of admits go elsewhere or nowhere. Read the score bands below narrowly: only 30% 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 | 540–640 | 161 (30%) |
| SAT Math | 520–640 | |
| ACT Composite | 23–31 | 26 (5%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Valparaiso University →Academics
A 70% six-year graduation rate is the strongest academic signal on this page. Retention of 75% means a meaningful slice of each entering class does not return. A 10:1 ratio points to small classes and accessible faculty. Judge these figures against other institutions of the same type — sector explains more of the variation in completion than any single campus factor. The undergraduate population is 2,255 — big enough for a real range of programs, small enough to navigate.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 2,232 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Net price lands at $21,766 a year on average, neither cheap nor punishing. Net price swings hard on family income here, from $11,043 at the $0–30k band to $24,780 at $110k+. Most students get help: 97% receive grants worth $35,974 on average. About 52% 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.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · 594 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 | $11,043 |
| $30–48k | $12,055 |
| $48–75k | $15,279 |
| $75–110k | $22,311 |
| $110k+ | $24,780 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 1,171 of these 2,232 students, totalling $7,835,642 — an average of $6,691 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Porter 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)