Fairmont State University

What the IPEDS & College Scorecard Data Shows for Fairmont State University

Fairmont State University operates as a public institution located in Fairmont, West Virginia (town: distant), with a total reported enrollment of 2,590 students of which 3,439 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. Fairmont State University is categorized as “20” 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 98.6%, drawn from the most recent IPEDS Fall enrollment survey, with an average SAT of 996 and an ACT midpoint of 20. The average net price after grants and scholarships is $9,032, with published in-state tuition of $8,708 and a Pell grant recipient share of 34.3%. Median federal student debt at graduation is $21,000, drawn from the U.S. Treasury-matched College Scorecard file.

Outcomes reveal whether the investment pays back. The 4-year completion rate is 46.2%, and the first-year retention rate is 67.4%. Graduates earn a median of $46,857 ten years after enrolling, compared with $41,197 six years post-enrollment. Within three years of entering repayment, 261900.0% of borrowers are making progress on their federal loans, and 49.9% 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.