Washington College
Private College in Chestertown, MD. Six-year graduation rate 65%. Median 10-year earnings $65,518.
Ten-year median earnings of $65,518 are the headline number here, and they are strong ones. The six-year graduation rate of 65% is well above average and the clearest sign this school holds onto its students. Graduates carry a median of $26,956 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.
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Admissions
Selectivity is real here: only 57% of applicants are offered a place. The applicant pool runs to 4,048, typical for a school of this reach. A 12% yield rate is low: the admitted pool is much larger than the entering class. The score bands below rest on the 12% of enrolled first-years who submitted an SAT score — a self-selected group, and not a cutoff.
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 | 580–710 | 33 (12%) |
| SAT Math | 560–680 | |
| ACT Composite | 27–31 | 5 (2%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Washington College →Academics
Six-year completion runs to 65% — students who start here overwhelmingly finish here. Retention is strong at 84%, and first-year attrition is where most degrees are lost. Retention and graduation track closely, so most of the attrition shows up in the first year rather than after it. 27% transfer out. IPEDS does not follow them, so whether they finished elsewhere is not recorded either way. The 8:1 student-faculty ratio is small enough that seminar-sized classes are the norm.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 890 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Average net price — what students actually pay after grant aid — is $29,830 a year, at the high end of undergraduate cost. The income table below is the number that matters — $17,804 at $0–30k versus $33,980 at $110k+. 97% of students get grant aid averaging $41,395, so the published price is a poor guide to what most pay. Federal borrowing reaches 49% 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 · 230 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 | $17,804 |
| $30–48k | $22,722 |
| $48–75k | $25,068 |
| $75–110k | $26,760 |
| $110k+ | $33,980 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 432 of these 890 students, totalling $2,627,086 — an average of $6,081 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Kent 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)