Washington and
Lee University
Private College in Lexington, VA. Six-year graduation rate 94%. Median 10-year earnings $94,810.
Ten-year median earnings of $94,810 are the headline number here, and they are strong ones. The six-year graduation rate of 94% is well above average and the clearest sign this school holds onto its students. Graduates carry a median of $19,500 in debt — in line with the national norm.
Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.
- ✓ Debt-to-income ratio 0.21 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ Graduation rate 94% — well above the national average
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
- ! Mobility score 0.6 — limited economic uplift documented
- ! Admit rate 14% — heavily selective, limited transfer slots
Admissions
This is a highly selective admit: 14% of applicants receive an offer. 8,213 applications came in, enough to make the rates below reasonably stable year to year. A 41% yield rate puts this school in the upper range for admits who follow through. Read the score bands below narrowly: only 24% 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 | 710–760 | 111 (24%) |
| SAT Math | 720–780 | |
| ACT Composite | 33–34 | 94 (20%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Washington and Lee University →Academics
94% of students finish within six years, putting completion well above the national norm. Retention is strong at 97%, and first-year attrition is where most degrees are lost. The 7:1 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. This is a small school — 1,898 undergraduates — so cohorts are tight and the program list is necessarily short.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 1,884 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Average net price after grant aid is $23,055 a year — mid-range for a four-year institution. Aid is steeply need-based: families in the $0–30k band pay $-1,777 while those at $110k+ pay $40,646. Grant aid reaches 65% of students at an average of $58,158. 15% borrow federally — a low rate, though it covers federal loans only.
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 · 502 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 | $-1,777 |
| $30–48k | $75 |
| $48–75k | $4,497 |
| $75–110k | $8,162 |
| $110k+ | $40,646 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 275 of these 1,884 students, totalling $1,620,372 — an average of $5,892 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Lexington City) — 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)