Emerson College

What the IPEDS & College Scorecard Data Shows for Emerson College

Emerson College operates as a private nonprofit institution located in Boston, Massachusetts (city: large), with a total reported enrollment of 3,870 students of which 4,301 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. Emerson College is categorized as “18” 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 51.3%, drawn from the most recent IPEDS Fall enrollment survey, with an average SAT of 1,358 and an ACT midpoint of 30. The average net price after grants and scholarships is $49,180, with published in-state tuition of $57,056 and a Pell grant recipient share of 15.5%. Median federal student debt at graduation is $23,000, drawn from the U.S. Treasury-matched College Scorecard file.

Outcomes reveal whether the investment pays back. The 4-year completion rate is 78.2%, and the first-year retention rate is 87.4%. Graduates earn a median of $62,832 ten years after enrolling, compared with $42,799 six years post-enrollment. Within three years of entering repayment, 133200.0% of borrowers are making progress on their federal loans, and 68.1% 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.