Willamette University
Private College in Salem, OR. Six-year graduation rate 71%. Median 10-year earnings $56,911.
Ten years after entry, the median Willamette University student earns $56,911 — a solidly middle-of-the-pack result for an undergraduate institution. 71% graduate within six years, so most students who start here finish here. Graduates carry a median of $21,500 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
77% of applicants get in, so the odds favor most reasonably prepared students. 3,832 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. The score bands below rest on the 18% 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 | 640–730 | 75 (18%) |
| SAT Math | 600–710 | |
| ACT Composite | 28–33 | 39 (9%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Willamette University →Academics
A 71% six-year graduation rate is the strongest academic signal on this page. First-year retention of 87% shows the cohort holds together through the hardest year. Retention and completion are close, which places the gap between entering and finishing almost entirely in year one. The 13:1 student-faculty ratio is small enough that seminar-sized classes are the norm. As a private nonprofit four-year college, the relevant comparison is other four-year schools rather than the national average across all institutions.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 1,525 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Average net price — what students actually pay after grant aid — is $29,421 a year, at the high end of undergraduate cost. Net price swings hard on family income here, from $16,182 at the $0–30k band to $33,794 at $110k+. Most students get help: 100% receive grants worth $35,423 on average. About 41% borrow federally, roughly the national pattern.
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 · 504 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 | $16,182 |
| $30–48k | $16,825 |
| $48–75k | $18,225 |
| $75–110k | $22,382 |
| $110k+ | $33,794 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 618 of these 1,525 students, totalling $3,594,696 — an average of $5,817 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Marion 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)