Walden University
For-profit College in Minneapolis, MN. Median 10-year earnings $42,810.
Students who entered Walden University land at a median of $42,810 a decade later, close to what most four-year schools deliver. The six-year graduation rate is 0% — low enough that finishing cannot be treated as the default outcome. Debt at graduation runs to a median of $20,834, 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
Academics
Completion is the problem here: 0% graduate within six years. 0% first-year retention is low enough to be the defining risk of enrolling here. Part-time retention runs ahead at 42% — a sign this campus supports non-traditional schedules well. The 31:1 student-faculty ratio is high, so large classes and limited faculty contact should be the expectation. Being a for-profit four-year institution is the single most useful context for these numbers — the sector's spread is wide enough that the school-level figures matter more than usual.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 7,337 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Average net price — what students actually pay after grant aid — is $34,282 a year, at the high end of undergraduate cost. The gap between the $0–30k and $30–48k bands is narrow ($32,652 versus $34,983), meaning aid is not strongly need-weighted. Grant aid is widespread — 85% of students receive it, averaging $3,679. Borrowing is widespread: 69% take federal loans.
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 · 3 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 | $32,652 |
| $30–48k | $34,983 |
| $48–75k | — |
| $75–110k | — |
| $110k+ | — |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 5,065 of these 7,337 students, totalling $39,691,163 — an average of $7,836 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Hennepin County) — budget these against any cost-of-attendance housing estimate.
HUD Fair Market Rents (40th-percentile gross rent incl. utilities) · FY2026
Veterans & GI Bill
Heightened Cash Monitoring (Financial Responsibility); School placed on Heightened Cash Monitoring
VA GI Bill Comparison Tool (Veterans Affairs GIDS)