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Private College

Whitworth University

Private College in Spokane, WA. Six-year graduation rate 71%. Median 10-year earnings $58,561.

Verdict Mixed outcomes
Whitworth University · Campus
Median earnings · 10 yr
$58,561
Median debt at grad
$25,000
Graduation rate
70.9%
Federal loan default
0%

Students who entered Whitworth University land at a median of $58,561 a decade later, close to what most four-year schools deliver. 71% graduate within six years, so most students who start here finish here. Graduates carry a median of $25,000 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.

Green Flags
  • 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Red Flags

Admissions

Acceptance rate
90%
Applicants
4,197
Yield rate
13.9%

Whitworth University admits 90% of applicants — effectively open admission, so the application is a formality rather than a hurdle. 4,197 applications came in, enough to make the rates below reasonably stable year to year. Only 14% of admitted students enroll — the great majority of admits go elsewhere or nowhere. 13% of enrolled first-years submitted an SAT score. The bands below describe the middle half of that group, not of the 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 550–670 68 (13%)
SAT Math 540–660
ACT Composite 21–29 25 (5%)

IPEDS Admissions · 2024

Apply at Whitworth University →

Academics

Full-time retention
78%
Transfer-out rate
21%
Student:faculty
11:1

71% of students finish within six years, putting completion well above the national norm. 78% of full-time first-years come back for year two, so about one in five are gone before sophomore year. 21% transfer out. IPEDS does not follow them, so whether they finished elsewhere is not recorded either way. At 11:1, students get materially more instructor contact than at a typical public university. Judge these figures against other institutions of the same type — sector explains more of the variation in completion than any single campus factor.

Financial Aid

Average net price
$27,605
Full-time, first-time undergraduates paying the in-state rate who were awarded grant or scholarship aid
% receiving grants
97%
degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
% receiving federal loans
56%
degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates

IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 1,927 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates

Average net price after grant aid is $27,605 a year — mid-range for a four-year institution. Aid is steeply need-based: families in the $0–30k band pay $16,788 while those at $110k+ pay $34,641. 97% of students get grant aid averaging $37,246, so the published price is a poor guide to what most pay. 56% 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.

% receiving grants
97%
Average grant
$41,007

IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · 549 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 $16,788
$30–48k $18,242
$48–75k $20,358
$75–110k $26,525
$110k+ $34,641

IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24

Federal student loans went to 1,080 of these 1,927 students, totalling $7,195,100 — an average of $6,662 each.

IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24

Local housing costs

Typical rents near campus (Spokane County) — budget these against any cost-of-attendance housing estimate.

Studio
$1,103/mo
1 bedroom
$1,193/mo
2 bedroom (whole unit)
$1,531/mo

HUD Fair Market Rents (40th-percentile gross rent incl. utilities) · FY2026

Veterans & GI Bill

GI Bill students
111
Yellow Ribbon
Yes
Principles of Excellence
Yes

VA GI Bill Comparison Tool (Veterans Affairs GIDS)

Compare Whitworth University with peer institutions

How we evaluate Whitworth University

IPEDS
US Department of Education
College Scorecard
Post-grad earnings
Census PSEO
Earnings by major
Opportunity Insights
Mobility by institution
Read our full methodology →