College of Charleston

What the IPEDS & College Scorecard Data Shows for College of Charleston

College of Charleston operates as a public institution located in Charleston, South Carolina (city: midsize), with a total reported enrollment of 10,558 students of which 11,466 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. College of Charleston is categorized as “19” 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 60.0%, drawn from the most recent IPEDS Fall enrollment survey, with an average SAT of 1,247 and an ACT midpoint of 26. The average net price after grants and scholarships is $18,960, with published in-state tuition of $12,978 and a Pell grant recipient share of 18.8%. Median federal student debt at graduation is $23,250, drawn from the U.S. Treasury-matched College Scorecard file.

Outcomes reveal whether the investment pays back. The 4-year completion rate is 65.4%, and the first-year retention rate is 82.0%. Graduates earn a median of $56,416 ten years after enrolling, compared with $43,821 six years post-enrollment. Within three years of entering repayment, 324200.0% of borrowers are making progress on their federal loans, and 67.0% 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.