Virginia State University
Public College in Petersburg, VA. Six-year graduation rate 39%. Median 10-year earnings $45,543.
Students who entered Virginia State University land at a median of $45,543 a decade later, close to what most four-year schools deliver. Only 39% finish within six years, so roughly three in five students leave without the credential they enrolled for. Graduates carry a median of $26,500 in debt — in line with the national norm. Mobility is where this school separates itself: 3.4% 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
Admission is not the constraint here: 89% of applicants are accepted. 11,775 students applied, a pool deep enough to make the acceptance rate meaningful. Only 14% of admitted students enroll — the great majority of admits go elsewhere or nowhere. Read the score bands below narrowly: only 10% 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 | 440–550 | 154 (10%) |
| SAT Math | 400–520 | |
| ACT Composite | 14–20 | 17 (1%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Virginia State University →Academics
A six-year graduation rate of 39% means finishing is closer to the exception than the rule. 69% of full-time first-years come back for year two, so about one in three are gone before sophomore year. That gap between coming back and finishing is where this school loses people — after the first year, not during it. A 13:1 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.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 4,823 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Students pay an average of $17,840 annually once grants are applied. Net price swings hard on family income here, from $13,220 at the $0–30k band to $25,508 at $110k+. Most students get help: 91% receive grants worth $15,647 on average. Most students borrow — 76% 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 · 1,444 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 | $13,220 |
| $30–48k | $14,758 |
| $48–75k | $19,463 |
| $75–110k | $22,223 |
| $110k+ | $25,508 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 3,654 of these 4,823 students, totalling $35,777,580 — an average of $9,791 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Chesterfield 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)