Washington Adventist University
Private College in Takoma Park, MD. Six-year graduation rate 28%. Median 10-year earnings $64,249.
Students who entered Washington Adventist University reach a median of $64,249 ten years later, which puts this school in the upper band of undergraduate earnings outcomes. Completion is the weak point: 28% graduate within six years. Debt is the pressure point: a median of $30,500 at graduation.
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
- ! Graduation rate 28% — below national average
Admissions
Selectivity is real here: only 46% of applicants are offered a place. 2,765 applications came in, enough to make the rates below reasonably stable year to year. Yield is low at 9%, so most admitted students do not end up enrolling. Read the score bands below narrowly: only 14% 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 | 450–580 | 17 (14%) |
| SAT Math | 410–550 | |
| ACT Composite | — | — |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Washington Adventist University →Academics
A six-year graduation rate of 28% means finishing is closer to the exception than the rule. 64% 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. The 9:1 student-faculty ratio is small enough that seminar-sized classes are the norm. As a private nonprofit four-year college, the relevant comparison is other four-year schools rather than the national average across all institutions.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 522 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Average net price after grant aid is $18,154 a year — mid-range for a four-year institution. Income makes less difference than usual: $17,534 at $0–30k, $21,480 at $110k+. Most students get help: 89% receive grants worth $14,885 on average. 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 · 103 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 | $17,534 |
| $30–48k | $15,160 |
| $48–75k | $19,311 |
| $75–110k | $22,090 |
| $110k+ | $21,480 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 271 of these 522 students, totalling $2,426,293 — an average of $8,953 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Montgomery 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)