Wheeling University
Private College in Wheeling, WV. Six-year graduation rate 23%. Median 10-year earnings $57,949.
Students who entered Wheeling University land at a median of $57,949 a decade later, close to what most four-year schools deliver. Completion is the weak point: 23% graduate within six years. Debt at graduation runs to a median of $25,125, 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
- ! Graduation rate 23% — below national average
Admissions
An acceptance rate of 63% puts Wheeling University on the accessible end — a realistic target for a broad range of applicants. 2,796 applications came in, enough to make the rates below reasonably stable year to year. Yield is low at 10%, so most admitted students do not end up enrolling.
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 | — | — |
| SAT Math | — | |
| ACT Composite | — | — |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Wheeling University →Academics
Only 23% finish within six years, so roughly three in four students leave without the credential. Retention is weak: only 54% of full-time first-years return, so roughly one in two leave after one year. The distance between those two figures is the part worth noticing — students return for a second year at a much higher rate than they graduate, so attrition here is spread across the middle years rather than concentrated in the first. 62% of students transfer out, which reframes what the graduation rate above is measuring. A 15:1 ratio points to small classes and accessible faculty.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 603 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Students pay an average of $21,073 annually once grants are applied. The gap between the $0–30k and $110k+ bands is narrow ($17,739 versus $22,824), meaning aid is not strongly need-weighted. Most students get help: 93% receive grants worth $22,613 on average. 63% of students borrow federally, so debt is the norm rather than the exception.
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 · 232 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 | $17,739 |
| $30–48k | $19,718 |
| $48–75k | $19,913 |
| $75–110k | $22,608 |
| $110k+ | $22,824 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 382 of these 603 students, totalling $2,569,924 — an average of $6,728 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Ohio 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 (Compliance Audit Late or Missing); School placed on Heightened Cash Monitoring
VA GI Bill Comparison Tool (Veterans Affairs GIDS)