Governors State University

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

Governors State University operates as a public institution located in University Park, Illinois (suburb: large), with a total reported enrollment of 2,556 students of which 3,051 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. Governors State University 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 48.3%, drawn from the most recent IPEDS Fall enrollment survey and an ACT midpoint of 19. The average net price after grants and scholarships is $12,329, with published in-state tuition of $12,004 and a Pell grant recipient share of 53.6%. Median federal student debt at graduation is $18,618, drawn from the U.S. Treasury-matched College Scorecard file.

Outcomes reveal whether the investment pays back. The 4-year completion rate is 20.9%, and the first-year retention rate is 56.2%. Graduates earn a median of $58,169 ten years after enrolling, compared with $45,435 six years post-enrollment. Within three years of entering repayment, 207000.0% of borrowers are making progress on their federal loans, and 67.3% 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.