Worcester State University
Public College in Worcester, MA. Six-year graduation rate 61%. Median 10-year earnings $60,624.
Students who entered Worcester State University reach a median of $60,624 ten years later, which puts this school in the upper band of undergraduate earnings outcomes. The six-year graduation rate is 62%, meaning about two in five students who start do not finish. Graduates carry a median of $19,500 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.
- ✓ Debt-to-income ratio 0.32 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Admissions
Admission is not the constraint here: 88% of applicants are accepted. 5,156 students applied in the most recent cycle — a mid-sized pool drawn mostly from the surrounding region. Only 17% of admitted students enroll — the great majority of admits go elsewhere or nowhere. Read the score bands below narrowly: only 7% 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 | 533–665 | 50 (7%) |
| SAT Math | 493–618 | |
| ACT Composite | — | — |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Worcester State University →Academics
Six-year completion sits at 62%, meaning about two in five students who enroll leave without finishing. Retention of 78% means a meaningful slice of each entering class does not return. Retention and graduation track closely, so most of the attrition shows up in the first year rather than after it. A 21% transfer-out rate accounts for part of that gap: those students left for another institution rather than dropping out, and the graduation rate above counts them as non-completers here. The student-faculty ratio is 16:1 — typical, which in practice means large lectures early and smaller classes in the major.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 3,963 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
At $12,778 a year on average after grant aid, cost is low here relative to most undergraduate institutions. Aid is steeply need-based: families in the $0–30k band pay $8,793 while those at $110k+ pay $19,679. 70% of students receive grant aid, averaging $8,766 — common but not automatic. About 53% 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 · 901 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 | $8,793 |
| $30–48k | $9,629 |
| $48–75k | $9,540 |
| $75–110k | $13,658 |
| $110k+ | $19,679 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 2,092 of these 3,963 students, totalling $11,631,329 — an average of $5,560 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)