Amherst College

What the IPEDS & College Scorecard Data Shows for Amherst College

Amherst College operates as a private nonprofit institution located in Amherst, Massachusetts (city: small), with a total reported enrollment of 1,911 students of which 2,049 are undergraduates. Institution-level records in the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) classify each school by Carnegie category, ownership sector, and urban/rural locale, which is how this profile’s peer group and cost cohort are determined. Amherst College is categorized as “21” under the Carnegie classification system, a meaningful signal when comparing like-to-like institutions.

Selectivity and financial signals give context to what applicants can expect. The reported admission rate is 9.0%, drawn from the most recent IPEDS Fall enrollment survey, with an average SAT of 1,533 and an ACT midpoint of 33. The average net price after grants and scholarships is $23,367, with published in-state tuition of $70,480 and a Pell grant recipient share of 19.8%. Median federal student debt at graduation is $13,740, drawn from the U.S. Treasury-matched College Scorecard file.

Outcomes reveal whether the investment pays back. The 4-year completion rate is 93.7%, and the first-year retention rate is 97.3%. Graduates earn a median of $77,644 ten years after enrolling, compared with $62,537 six years post-enrollment. Within three years of entering repayment, 23000.0% of borrowers are making progress on their federal loans, and 68.3% of graduates earn above the high-school threshold. Treating these numbers as a single snapshot alongside the cost cohort is the standard approach for evaluating ROI under the College Scorecard methodology.