Whittier College
Private College in Whittier, CA. Six-year graduation rate 60%. Median 10-year earnings $59,492.
Ten years after entry, the median Whittier College student earns $59,492 — a solidly middle-of-the-pack result for an undergraduate institution. The six-year graduation rate is 60%, meaning about two in five students who start do not finish. Median debt at graduation is $24,937, roughly typical for an undergraduate degree. Mobility is where this school separates itself: 3.0% of students move from the bottom income quintile to the top.
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
81% of applicants get in, so the odds favor most reasonably prepared students. 4,778 students applied in the most recent cycle — a mid-sized pool drawn mostly from the surrounding region. A 5% yield rate is low: the admitted pool is much larger than the entering class.
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 Whittier College →Academics
60% graduate within six years — average, but that average still hides a large group who do not. 66% of full-time first-years come back for year two, so about one in three are gone before sophomore year. 24% 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. This is a private nonprofit four-year college, so read every rate on this page against that peer group specifically.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 811 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Average net price — what students actually pay after grant aid — is $28,101 a year, at the high end of undergraduate cost. Net price swings hard on family income here, from $21,718 at the $0–30k band to $30,599 at $110k+. Grant aid is widespread — 93% of students receive it, averaging $32,501. Federal borrowing reaches 54% 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 · 143 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 | $21,718 |
| $30–48k | $19,928 |
| $48–75k | $24,973 |
| $75–110k | $26,718 |
| $110k+ | $30,599 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 437 of these 811 students, totalling $2,899,509 — an average of $6,635 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Los Angeles 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)