Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Private Research University in Worcester, MA. Six-year graduation rate 90%. Median 10-year earnings $103,470.
A decade after enrolling, the median Worcester Polytechnic Institute student earns $103,470 — comfortably above what the typical bachelor's-granting institution returns. 90% graduate within six years, so most students who start here finish here. Debt is the pressure point: a median of $27,000 at graduation. Mobility is where this school separates itself: 2.2% 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.
- ✓ Debt-to-income ratio 0.26 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ Graduation rate 90% — well above the national average
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Admissions
Worcester Polytechnic Institute accepts 60% of applicants, which makes it accessible to most students who meet the baseline requirements. 12,559 students applied, a pool deep enough to make the acceptance rate meaningful. Yield is low at 18%, 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 Worcester Polytechnic Institute →Academics
Six-year completion runs to 90% — students who start here overwhelmingly finish here. Retention is strong at 94%, and first-year attrition is where most degrees are lost. The 13:1 student-faculty ratio is small enough that seminar-sized classes are the norm. Judge these figures against other institutions of the same type — sector explains more of the variation in completion than any single campus factor. With 5,453 undergraduates, the school sits in the middle of the size distribution.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 5,344 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Students pay $47,372 a year on average after aid, a premium price that the earnings data has to justify. The income table below is the number that matters — $24,018 at $0–30k versus $49,716 at $110k+. Most students get help: 98% receive grants worth $30,806 on average. Federal borrowing reaches 53% 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 · 1,357 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 | $24,018 |
| $30–48k | $24,452 |
| $48–75k | $32,350 |
| $75–110k | $37,753 |
| $110k+ | $49,716 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 2,821 of these 5,344 students, totalling $18,146,619 — an average of $6,433 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Worcester 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)