Widener University
Private College in Chester, PA. Six-year graduation rate 68%. Median 10-year earnings $70,920.
Ten-year median earnings of $70,920 are the headline number here, and they are strong ones. Completion is a strength: 68% of students finish within six years. Debt is the pressure point: a median of $27,000 at graduation. On economic mobility, 2.0% of students travel 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
An acceptance rate of 71% puts Widener University on the accessible end — a realistic target for a broad range of applicants. 9,350 applications came in, enough to make the rates below reasonably stable year to year. A 14% yield rate is low: the admitted pool is much larger than the entering class. Read the score bands below narrowly: only 9% 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 | 550–650 | 84 (9%) |
| SAT Math | 530–640 | |
| ACT Composite | — | — |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Widener University →Academics
68% 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. A 11:1 ratio points to small classes and accessible faculty. Judge these figures against other institutions of the same type — sector explains more of the variation in completion than any single campus factor. The undergraduate population is 2,811 — big enough for a real range of programs, small enough to navigate.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 2,776 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Average net price after grant aid is $26,778 a year — mid-range for a four-year institution. Aid is steeply need-based: families in the $0–30k band pay $21,200 while those at $110k+ pay $32,296. Grant aid is widespread — 94% of students receive it, averaging $40,447. 73% 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 · 892 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 | $21,200 |
| $30–48k | $22,275 |
| $48–75k | $22,514 |
| $75–110k | $25,900 |
| $110k+ | $32,296 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 2,014 of these 2,776 students, totalling $13,503,617 — an average of $6,705 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Delaware 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)